U.K.Oxford OX3 0BW,EnglandPergamon Press Ine.,Maxwell House,Fairview Park,Elmsford,New York 10523.U.S.A.CANADAAUSTRALIAPergamon Press (Aust.)Pty.Ltd.,P.O.Box 544.Potta Point,N.S.W.2011,AustraliaFEDERAL REPUBLICOF GERMANYPergamon Prees GmbH,Hammerweg 6.JAPANPergamon Press Ltd.,8th Floor,Matsuoka Central Building.BRAZIL1-7-1 Nishiahinjuku.Shinjuku-ku,Tokyo 160,JapanPergamon Editora Ltda.,Rua Eca de Queiros,346,CEP 04011,Sao Paulo,BrazilPEOPLE'S REPUBLICOF CHINAPergamon Press,Qianmen Hotel,Beijing.magnetie tape,mechanical,photocopying,recording orFirst edition 1969Second(reviaed)edition 1964Third (revised)edition 1965Fourth (revised)edition 1970Fifth(revised)edition 1975Reprinted 1975,1977Sixth edition 1980Reprinted 1984Born,MaxPrinciples of opties,-6th ed.(with correotiona).I.Title II.Wolf,Emil536QC35180-41470ISBN 0-08-026482-4 hardcoverI'rinted in (ireat Britain by A.Wheaton d Cu.Ltd..ExeterPREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITIONTHe idea of writing this book was a result of frequent enquiries about the possibilityof publishing in the English language a book on opties written by one of us*more thantwenty-five years ago.A preliminary survey of the literature showed that numerousresearches on almost every aspect of optics have been carried out in the interveningyears,so that the book no longer gives a comprehensive and balanced picture of thefield.In consequence it was felt that a translation was hardly appropriate;insteada substantially new book was prepared,which we are now placing before the reader.In planning this book it soon became apparent that even if only the most importantdevelopments which took place since the publication of Optik were incorporated,thebook would become impracticably large.It was,therefore,deemed necessary torestrict its scope to a narrower field.Optik itself did not treat the whole of optics.The optics of moving media,optics of X-rays and y rays,the theory of spectra and thefull connection between optics and atomic physics were not discussed;nor did theold book consider the effects of light on our visual sense organ-the eye.Thesesubjects can be treated more appropriately in connection with other fields such aarelativity,quantum mechanics,atomic and nuclear physics,and physiology.In thisbook not only are these subjects excluded,but also the classical molecular optics whichwas the subject-matter of almost half of the German book.Thus our discussion isrestricted to those optical phenomena which may be treated in terms of MAxwELL'sphenomenological theory.This includes all situations in which the atomistic structureof matter plays no decisive part.The connection with atomic physics,quantummechanica,and physiology is indicated only by short references wherever necessary.The fact that,even after this limitation,the book is much larger than Optik,givessome indication about the extent of the researches that have been carried out inclassical optics in recent times.We have aimed at giving,within the framework just outlined,a reasonably com.plete picture of our present knowledge.We have attempted to present the theory insuch a way that practically all the results can be traced back to the basic equations ofMAxWELL's electromagnetic theory,from which our whole consideration starts.In Chapter I the main properties of the electromagnetic field are discussed and theeffect of matter on the propagation of the electromagnetic disturbance is describedformally,in terms of the usual material constants.A more physical approach to thequestion of infuence of matter is developed in Chapter II:it is shown that in thepresence of an external incident field,each volume element of a material mediummay be assumed to give rise to a secondary(scattered)wavelet and that the combination of these wavelets leads to the observable,macroscopic field.This approach is ofconsiderable physical significance and its power is illustrated in a later chaptertreated in this way by A.B.BHATTA and W.J.NoBLE;Chapter XII was contributedby Prof.BRATIA himself.A considerable part of Chapter III is devoted to showing how geometricai opticsfollows from MAxWELL's wave theory as a limiting case of short waveiengths.Inaddition to discussing the main properties of rays and wave-fronts,the vectorialMAx BoRN,Optik (Berlin,Springer,1933).viPREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITIONaspects of the problem (propagation of the directions of the field vectors)are aleoconsidered.A detailed discussion of the foundations of geometrical optics seemed tous desirable in view of the important developments made in recent years in the relatedfield of microwave optics (optics of short radio waves).These developments wereoften stimulated by the close analogy between the two fields and have providednew experimental techniques for testing the predictions of the theory.We found itconvenient to separate the mathematical apparatus of geometrical optics-thecalculus of variations-from the main text;an appendix on this subject(Appendix I)is based in the main part on unpublished lectures given by D.HILBERT at Gottingen.University in the early years of this century.The following appendix(Appendix II),contributed by Prof.D.GABOR,shows the close formal analogy that exists betweengeometrical optics,classical mechanics,and electron optics,when these subjects arepresented in the language of the calculus of variations.We make no apology for basing our treatment of geometrical theory of imaging(Chapter IV)on HAMILTON's classical methods of characteristic functions.Thoughthese methods have found little favour in connection with the design of optical instru-ments,they represent nevertheless an essential tool for presenting in a unified mannerthe many diverse aspeets of the subject.It is,of course,possible to derive some of theresults more simply from ad hoc assumptions;but,however valuable such an approachmay be for the solution of individual problems,it cannot have more than illustrativevalue in a book concerned with a systematic development of a theory from a fewsimple postulates.The defect of optical images(the influence of aberrations)may be studied eitherby geometrical optics(appropriate when the aberrations are large),or by diffractiontheory (when they are sufficiently small).Since one usually proceeds from quitedifferent starting points in the two methods of treatments,a comparison of resultshas in the past not always been easy.We have attempted to develop a more unifiedtreatment,based on the concept of the deformation of wave-fronts.In the geometricalanalysis of aberrations (Chapter V)we have found it possible and advantageous toThe chapter on diffraction theory of aberrations (Chapter Ix)gives an account ofthe NIJBOER-ZERNIKE theory and also includes an introductory section on theimaging of extended objects,in coherent and in incoherent illumination,based on theChapter VI,contributed by Dr.P.A.WAYMAN,gives a brief description of themain image-forming optical systems.Its purpose is to provide a framework forthose parts of the book which deal with the theory of image formation.Chapter VII is concerned with the elements of the theory of interference and withinterferometers.Some of the theoretical sections have their nucleus in the corre-sponding sections of Optik,but the chapter has been completely re-written by Dr.W.L.WIL.cock,who has also considerably broadened its scope.Chapter VIII is mainly concerned with the FRESNEL-KIRCHHOFF diffraction theoryand with some of its applications.In addition to the usual topics,the chapter includesa detailed discussion of the central problem of optical image formation-the analysisof the three-dimensional light distribution near the geometrical focus.An account isalso given of a less familiar alternative approach to diffraction,based on the notion(and therefore completely coherent)light,produced by point sources.Chapter Xdeals with the more realistie case of light produced by sources of finite extension and