Statistical Optics

This book discusses statistical methods that are useful for treating problems in modern optics, and the application of these methods to solving a variety of such problems

This book covers a variety of statistical problems in optics, including both theory and applications. The text covers the necessary background in statistics, statistical properties of light waves of various types, the theory of partial coherence and its applications, imaging with partially coherent light, atmospheric degradations of images, and noise limitations in the detection of light. New topics have been introduced in the second edition, including:

• Analysis of the Vander Pol oscillator model of laser light
• Coverage on coherence tomography and coherence multiplexing of fiber sensors
• An expansion of the chapter on imaging with partially coherent light, including several new examples
• An expanded section on speckle and its properties
• New sections on the cross-spectrum and bispectrum techniques for obtaining images free from atmospheric distortions
• A new section on imaging through atmospheric turbulence using coherent light
• The addition of the effects of "read noise" to the discussions of limitations encountered in detecting very weak optical signals
• A number of new problems and many new references have been added

Statistical Optics, 2nd Edition is written for researchers and engineering students interested in optics, physicists and chemists, as well as graduate level courses in a University Engineering or Physics Department.

Joseph W. Goodman is an engineer and physicist. He has held a number of positions in the field of optics, including the presidency of the Optical Society of America and the presidency of the International Commission for Optics. He chaired the Department of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University from 1988 until 1996, and served as Senior Associate Dean of Engineering from 1996 through 2000.