BOOK COVER -- TITLE -- COPYRIGHT -- CONTENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- CHAPTER 1 SOUND -- PLANE WAVES -- WAVELENGTH, PERIOD, AND FREQUENCY -- AMPLITUDE AND INTENSITY -- THE DECIBEL SCALE -- THE SPEED OF SOUND -- CIRCULAR AND SPHERICAL WAVES -- ATTENUATION -- DIFFRACTION -- REFRACTION -- REFLECTION -- IMPEDANCE -- INTERFERENCE -- THE DOPPLER EFFECT -- SONIC BOOMS -- STANDING WAVES -- IN STRETCHED STRINGS -- IN AIR COLUMNS -- IN SOLID RODS -- IN NONHARMONIC SYSTEMS -- STEADY-STATE WAVES AND SPECTRAL ANALYSIS -- THE SOUND SPECTROGRAPH -- GENERATION BY MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS -- THE HUMAN VOICE -- NOISE -- HEARING -- DYNAMIC RANGE OF THE EAR -- THE EAR AS SPECTRUM ANALYZER -- BINAURAL PERCEPTION -- ENVIRONMENTAL NOISE -- CHAPTER 2 ACOUSTICS -- EARLY EXPERIMENTATION -- MODERN ADVANCES -- AMPLIFYING, RECORDING, AND REPRODUCING -- ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS -- REVERBERATION TIME -- ACOUSTIC CRITERIA -- ACOUSTIC PROBLEMS -- CHAPTER 3 BEYOND HUMAN HEARING -- ULTRASONICS -- TRANSDUCERS -- APPLICATIONS IN RESEARCH -- RANGING AND NAVIGATING -- THE DOPPLER EFFECT -- MATERIALS TESTING -- HIGH-INTENSITY APPLICATIONS -- CHEMICAL AND ELECTRICAL USES -- MEDICAL APPLICATIONS -- INFRASONICS -- CHAPTER 4 LIGHT -- THEORIES OF LIGHT THROUGH HISTORY -- RAY THEORIES IN THE ANCIENT WORLD -- EARLY PARTICLE AND WAVE THEORIES -- GEOMETRICAL OPTICS: LIGHT AS RAYS -- LIGHT RAYS -- REFLECTION AND REFRACTION -- TOTAL INTERNAL REFLECTION -- DISPERSION -- LIGHT AS A WAVE -- CHARACTERISTICS OF WAVES -- INTERFERENCE -- DIFFRACTION -- DIFFRACTION EFFECTS -- THE DOPPLER EFFECT -- LIGHT AS ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION -- ELECTRIC AND MAGNETIC FIELDS -- MAXWELL'S EQUATIONS -- ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES AND THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM -- THE SPEED OF LIGHT -- POLARIZATION -- ENERGY TRANSPORT -- QUANTUM THEORY OF LIGHT -- BLACKBODY RADIATION -- PHOTONS -- QUANTUM MECHANICS -- EMISSION AND ABSORPTION PROCESSES.

QUANTUM ELECTRODYNAMICS -- CHAPTER 5 ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION -- GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS -- OCCURRENCE AND IMPORTANCE -- THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM -- GENERATION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION -- PROPERTIES AND BEHAVIOUR -- COSMIC BACKGROUND ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION -- EFFECT OF GRAVITATION -- THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT OF THE ATMOSPHERE -- FORMS OF ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION -- RADIO WAVES -- MICROWAVES -- INFRARED RADIATION -- VISIBLE RADIATION -- ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION -- X-RAYS -- GAMMA RAYS -- CHAPTER 6 LASERS -- HISTORY -- FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES -- ENERGY LEVELS AND STIMULATED EMISSIONS -- LASER ELEMENTS -- LASER BEAM CHARACTERISTICS -- TYPES OF LASERS -- LASER APPLICATIONS -- TRANSMISSION AND PROCESSING OF INFORMATION -- PRECISE DELIVERY OF ENERGY -- ALIGNMENT, MEASUREMENT, AND IMAGING -- CHAPTER 7 OPTICS -- GEOMETRICAL OPTICS -- THE OPTICAL IMAGE -- HISTORICAL BACKGROUND -- RAY-TRACING METHODS -- PARAXIAL, OR FIRST-ORDER, IMAGERY -- OPTICAL SYSTEMS -- LENS ABERRATIONS -- IMAGE BRIGHTNESS -- OPTICS AND INFORMATION THEORY -- GENERAL OBSERVATIONS -- IMAGE FORMATION -- PARTIALLY COHERENT LIGHT -- OPTICAL PROCESSING -- HOLOGRAPHY -- NONLINEAR OPTICS -- CHAPTER 8 BIOGRAPHIES -- SIR GEORGE BIDDELL AIRY -- ERASMUS BARTHOLIN -- NIKOLAY G. BASOV -- SIR DAVID BREWSTER -- ARTHUR HOLLY COMPTON -- CHRISTIAN DOPPLER -- ARMAND-HIPPOLYTE-LOUIS FIZEAU -- HARVEY FLETCHER -- JEAN FOUCAULT -- AUGUSTIN-JEAN FRESNEL -- DENNIS GABOR -- HERMANN VON HELMHOLTZ -- CHRISTIAAN HUYGENS -- EDWIN HERBERT LAND -- HANS LIPPERSHEY -- THEODORE H. MAIMAN -- ÉTIENNE-LOUIS MALUS -- A.A. MICHELSON -- SIR ISAAC NEWTON -- ALEKSANDR MIKHAYLOVICH PROKHOROV -- JOHN WILLIAM STRUTT, 3RD LORD RAYLEIGH -- OLE RØMER -- WILHELM RÖNTGEN -- ARTHUR L. SCHAWLOW -- WILLEBRORD VAN ROIJEN SNELL -- CHARLES TOWNES -- THOMAS YOUNG -- CONCLUSION -- GLOSSARY -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- SOUND -- ACOUSTICS -- LIGHT.

ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION -- LASERS -- OPTICS -- INDEX.