Optical Imaging and Spectroscopy

PREFACE

In an age of ubiquitous information; where any question can instantly be answered at the click of a mouse, it is important to remember that some questions require book-length answers. This book answers the question, “What are the design principles of computational optical sensors?” This book is not a homage to old ideas, in fact it celebrates the death of the photochemically recorded image. But it does honor the ancient concept of the book.

A book-length idea requires a narrative, with protagonists (such as the intrepid photon, speeding information from object to data), antagonists (such as the fickle photon, arriving when it pleases with no consideration to resulting signal fluctuations), and a satisfying denouement. Careful contemplative research is necessary to develop such a narrative. For nearly a century, the Optical Society of America has fostered the research that provides the basis for this book's story. Books and professional societies are as alive and essential to advanced science and engineering in this century as in the last.

With this in mind, it is particularly satisfying that this book is produced under the joint Wiley-OSA imprint. I knew from the moment the series was announced that this would be the perfect venue for “Optical Imaging and Spectroscopy.” While there have been many twists and turns in the text's plot over the intervening years, including numerous delays as I struggled to resolve the narrative, these have been the natural struggles of an author. ...