Speckle Phenomena in Optics

Speckle, a granular structure appearing in images and diffraction patterns produced by objects that are rough on the scale of an optical wavelength, is a ubiquitous phenomenon, appearing in optics, acoustics, microwaves, and other fields. This book provides comprehensive coverage of this subject, including both the underlying statistical theory and the applications of this phenomenon. This second edition offers improvements of several topics and addition of significant amounts of new material, including discussion of: generalized random walks, speckle in the eye, polarization speckle (and the statistics of the Stokes parameters in a speckle pattern), the effects of angle and wavelength changes on speckle, the statistics of speckle from “smooth” surfaces, and a spectrometer based on speckle. Many new references are also included. As with the first edition, a multitude of areas of application are covered.

“In the mid-1960s, a young Joseph Goodman, working at the Stanford Electronics Laboratories, wrote a detailed, but unpublished, report that established the basic statistical properties of speckle. Forty years later he wrote the most comprehensive book on the subject—Speckle Phenomena in Optics: Theory and Applications (2007), which became an instant classic and is the definitive text book. Goodman, the master of his subject, now presents an excellent second edition of an already excellent book.” - Christopher Dainty, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland“This second edition of Goodman’s classic Speckle Phenomena in Optics tells it all. It gives a detailed description of speckle, explains the techniques for suppressing speckle, and gives several applications of speckle in imaging and metrology.” - James C. Wyant, University of Arizona“When Goodman’s Speckle Phenomena in Optics was published in 2007, it became my primary reference for understanding speckle, which occurs in many diverse areas such as coherent optics, radar, and ultrasound. This second edition maintains Goodman’s signature clarity.” - James R. Fienup, University of Rochester

Joseph W. Goodman held the William Ayer Chair in Electrical Engineering at Stanford, and also served in several administrative posts, including Chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering, and Senior Associate Dean of Engineering for Faculty Affairs. He is now the William Ayer Professor Emeritus. His work has been recognized by a variety of awards and honors, including the F.E. Terman Award of the American Society for Engineering Education, the Dennis Gabor Award of the International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE), the Max Born Award, the Esther Beller Hoffman Award, the Ives Medal from the Optical Society of America, and the Education Medal of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and has served as president of the Optical Society of America and the International Commission for Optics.