Ranging from the physics of elementary particles to the structure of viruses, the subject matter of this book stresses the importance of optical activity and chirality in modern science and will be of interest to a wide range of scientists. Using classical and quantum methods with a strong emphasis on symmetry principles, the volume develops the theory of varied optical activity and related phenomena from the perspective of molecular scattering of polarized light. First Edition Hb (1983): 0-521-24602-4

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Molecular Light Scattering and Optical Activity

We derive the semiclassical equation of motion for the wave packet of light taking into account the Berry curvature in momentum-space. This equation naturally describes the interplay between orbital and spin angular momenta, i.e., the conservation of the total angular momentum of light. This leads to the shift of wave-packet motion perpendicular to the gradient of the dielectric constant, i.e., the polarization-dependent Hall effect of light. An enhancement of this effect in photonic crystals is also proposed.

Hall effect of light.

In the past few years, new developments in structured electromagnetic materials have given rise to negative refractive index materials which have both negative dielectric permittivity and negative magnetic permeability in some frequency ranges. The idea of a negative refractive index opens up new conceptual frontiers in photonics. One much-debated example is the concept of a perfect lens that enables imaging with sub-wavelength image resolution. Here we review the fundamental concepts and ideas of negative refractive index materials. First we present the ideas of structured materials or meta-materials that enable the design of new materials with a negative dielectric permittivity, negative magnetic permeability and negative refractive index. We discuss how a variety of resonance phenomena can be utilized to obtain these materials in various frequency ranges over the electromagnetic spectrum. The choice of the wave-vector in negative refractive index materials and the issues of dispersion, causality and energy transport are analysed. Various issues of wave propagation including nonlinear effects and surface modes in negative refractive materials (NRMs) are discussed. In the latter part of the review, we discuss the concept of a perfect lens consisting of a slab of a NRM. This perfect lens can image the far-field radiative components as well as the nearfield evanescent components, and is not subject to the traditional diffraction limit. Different aspects of this lens such as the surface modes acting as the mechanism for the imaging of the evanescent waves, the limitations imposed by dissipation and dispersion in the negative refractive media, the generalization of this lens to optically complementary media and the possibility of magnification of the near-field images are discussed. Recent experimental developments verifying these ideas are briefly covered. (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)

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Physics of negative refractive index materials

The application of the specular reflection of neutrons to the study of surface and interfaces is described. The theoretical and experimental background to the technique is presented. A range of recent experimental results in surface chemistry, solid films and surface magnetism is discussed. In surface chemistry the results include adsorption of surfactants at the air-solution interface, insoluble monolayers and polymers at the air-liquid interface, soap films and adsorption at the liquid-solid and liquid-liquid interfaces. In solid films results on Langmuir-Blodgett films, hard carbon films, polymer films and some semiconductor layers are discussed. In surface magnetism experimental data which illustrate the nature of magnetism in magnetic multilayers and ferromagnetic films, and which describe flux penetration in superconductors, are presented.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0953-8984/2/6/001/pdf

The application of the specular reflection of neutrons to the study of surfaces and interfaces

A new method named STM is described for determining distance of objects and rapid autofocusing of camera systems. STM uses image defocus information and is based on a new Spatial-Domain Convolution/Deconvolution Transform. The method requires only two images taken with different camera parameters such as lens position, focal length, and aperture diameter. Both images can be arbitrarily blurred and neither of them needs to be a focused image. Therefore STM is very fast in comparison with Depth-from-Focus methods which search for the lens position or focal length of best focus. The method involves simple local operations and can be easily implemented in parallel to obtain the depth-map of a scene. STM has been implemented on an actual camera system named SPARCS. Experiments on the performance of STM and their results on real-world planar objects are presented. The results indicate that the accuracy of STM compares well with Depth-from-Focus methods and is useful in practical applications. The utility of the method is demonstrated for rapid autofocusing of electronic cameras.

W.T. Welford

Papers

Principles of optics (5th Edition): M. Born, E. Wolf Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1975, pp xxviii + 808, £9.50