Optical waveguide theory [Book Review by Paul Melman of text by by Allan W. Snyder and John D. Love]

The scope and depth of material presented in this book is a reflection of the extensive and thorough expertise developed at the Australian National University over the past several years. It is basically a theoretical treatment of the electromagnetic wave propagation problem in fibers and is intended for the theoretically oriented audience. The numerous waveguide configurations considered, and the large number of examples worked out make this book very helpful for a person trying to explore new applications or new fiber designs. On the other hand, communications systems applications are not included here; and therefore, topics related to signal propagation such as modai and polarization noise, harmonic distortion, and the effect of coherence are not covered. This extensive book should be very useful not only to the theoretician, but also to the experimentalist in need of a particular mathematical expression for a particular fiber configuration. The goal stated by the authors at the beginning is well fulfilled and this book should be a welcome addition to the library of fiber optics literature.