Abstract

Both diffraction gratings and optical interference coatings are used in a wide range of applications. While the basic theory of thin-film optics is well covered in many optics text books and many books on the design, fabrication and application of optical coatings have been published, the treatment of diffraction gratings in optics text books goes little beyond presenting the grating and to date only three books on diffraction gratings have been published. The book edited by Petit¹ describes the electromagnetic theory of gratings. The book by Hutley² concentrates on the physics of gratings. Complementing the above two, the recently published book by Loewen and Popov³ aims at the applications of gratings. In addition, a volume in SPIE’s milestone series, edited by Maystre⁴, contains many important papers in all aspects of gratings up to 1992.

© 1998 Optical Society of America