Book Description

Features a clear, accessible treatment ofthe fundamentals of electromagnetic theory. Its lean and focused approachemploys numerous examples and problems.Carefully discussessubtle or difficult points. Contains numerous, relevant problems within thebook in addition to end of each chapter problems and answers. ... Read more

Reviews (65)

The Undergrad E&M Standard for Greatness.
Interesting. Insightful. Conceptually Complete. Great Mathematical Notation. Great Explanations. All of these and more could be said about David Griffiths' incredible book on Introductory E&M. David's writing style is next to none, the text is never boring and extremely insightful. The various chapters are structured extremely well. It "flows" extrodinarily well from section to section. He conveys very well the enormous and far reaching applicability of the science of E&M.
Griffiths often uses physical arguments by analogy instead of mathematical rigour to convey many physical ideas. He treats the math like it should be treated in physics, as a language to work with ideas, not as a hindrance blocking their meaning. His mathematical notation is so completely natural and reader friendly, you get used to it very quickly. The examples are insightful and the problems, while challenging, are well thought out.

Every diamond has its fault, and this textbook's fault is its lack of a student solutions manual and answers in the back. However, the quality of writing GREATLY overwealms this fault, hence the 5 star rating. With this textbook, a good instructor, and a little hard work, you WILL learn E&M.

Cool and informal
This introductory book on Electrodynamics is one of the coolest and informal books I have ever read in my student life. I have used the book as an undergraduate and I still use it even now in my post-graduate study. The physical insights offered by the author in almost all the chapters are invaluable and interesting.Problems in Electrodynamics can be mathematically very demanding, but the book stands on it's own feet and the mathematical background required to use the book is more or less sufficient. The exercises are well thought-out /collected,but a major source of irritation is the lack of solutions or even answers for that matter. Dr Griffiths should understand that an elementary treatise such as this is used by a good proportion of the student community (who do not always have contact with a good teacher) for self-study. Such students need someone to hold his hands and be led into such an interesting area of classical physics. Moreover, when Landau can offer offer solutions to the problems in his Course of Theoretical Physics, Dr Griffiths shouldn't mind giving hints and solutions to the problems. If the author doesn't want to share the solutions in the textbook, a solutions manual should be sold in the market. However, a solution manual is available,from the publishers, but only for teachers who should be able to solve the problems on their own. Even many teachers have privately admitted the problems are beyond their capacity without suitable hints. So, how can the author expect students to solve most of the problems on their own? I have seen many students not following the book, precisely due to lack of solutions , and due to that I can only give four stars out of five. Also, the author needs to dispense with the idea of introducing new concepts in the exercises. But if one forgets that, I would say, the book is surely raccommended to beginners and a good book to start with before graduating to Jackson.

What the hell is this?
This book sucks. Griffths, if you can spend your most time typying FREE solution manual for instructors, and let them cut and copy it and scan them on to their class website, why don't you offer students a solution manual. Why do we have to spend 100 bucks for this thing. I really don't understand the people that wrote GOOD reviews about this book. no answers in the back. skip steps in examples, the author is trying to punk you.

Positives & Negatives
I'll begin with the NEGATIVES because there are fewer:

- No solutions and difficult end-of-chapter problems for some of the chapters make it very difficult to use this outside of a class
-Examples are good but they ill-prepare you for the end-problems

POSITIVE
-Very easy to read
-Good descriptions and explanations of phenomena
-Good simple examples with straightforward solutions (would like more)

Overall, I give it a 4/5. It's the first book I've used to study E&M beyond basic physics and I was mostly happy.

The best around.
This book is wonderful. I used it for a 1 year junior-level course at UERJ and I can say it was perfect.

I really don't understand the people that wrote bad reviews about this book. First of all, they seem not to understand that this book is AN INTRODUCTION. There exist excellents books on advanced material (Jackson, Schwinger...), but I doubt anyone has begun with those.

Some of those reviewers say that the math in the book is too elementary. So what? This is a EM course, not a Mathematical Physics one. If you want to struggle with Bessel or others horribles special functions, get Griffiths problems and change them by yourself so that the eigenfunctions are those you want. If you want Green's function, go ahead, you can solve lots of Griffiths' problems with it. But this is not the point. This is a physics book, and the discussion on the fenomena are very good. In my opinion the math used is that you do need to understand the physics.

Other constant complaint is the lack of problem solutions saying that without them you cannot know if you're learning. Well, particularly, it didn't bother me. The problems are very well selected and cover a wide range of difficulty. The easy ones should tell you if you're doing well. And, despite of what others have said, the problems make this a very good book for self-studying.

Finally, I don't understand the complaints about Griffiths' colloquial style. Some other (well celebrated) authors share the same informal writing style and everybody call them genious. Actually, this makes the book very pleasant to read thorough leaving the hard work to the problems. ... Read more

Book Description

A revision of the defining book covering the physics and classical mathematics necessary to understand electromagnetic fields in materials and at surfaces and interfaces. The third edition has been revised to address the changes in emphasis and applications that have occurred in the past twenty years. ... Read more

Reviews (60)

The Classical text for E & M
Jackson's text still remains as the classic text for E & M. The problems are challenging and difficult I do admit. I found that having the mathematics background helped when it came to solving some of Jackson's problems. From the other reviews that I saw that gave this book low ratings probably didn't have the mathematical background to tackle this text. Before attempting to read and solve the problems of Jackson, you should have an excellent working knowledge of Multivariable calculus including vector calculus, differential equations (including partial differential equations),complex variables, Legendre and Bessel functions. If you don't have this background, you will have a very difficult time with this book.

What's the purpose?
I fail to understand the purpose of writing such a book as Jacksons'. The physics is many times neglected in favor of mathematics, and yet the mathematics itself is poorly explained. It feels like studying E&M while being drunk: "you take the div of the curl, then the curl of the curl and the div of the div of the . . . " Also, Jackson takes the rather uninspiring view of teaching E&M from the unrelativistic point of view, a real shame, considering the conceptual simplification such an approach offers. Classical Electrodynamics by Julian Schwinger outrivals Jackson's book from the mathematical point of view, and is more comprehensive. Schwartz's "Principles of Electrodynamics" and Ohanian's text (forgot the name) explain the physics much better (Ohanian's book is also at a nice mathematical level). So what's the purpose of using this text?

EECCCHHHH!!!!!
This book (I use the term loosely) stinks. Some reviewers suggest that you can only appreciate this book if you already have a solid foundation in math and Electromagnetics. Baloney! Truth is, Jackson should never have been allowed to even think of writing such a textbook. From what I have seen so far, painful is not a strong enough word to describe the act of sifting through this mess. I feel for the students who had this assigned as their classroom text. As one reviewer put it, the students had to take other books out of the library to get through the course or to determine what the hell Jackson is talking about. There is a difference between a well presented, intelligent style of writing and a pretentious "Look how smart I appear to be, try try try to figure out what I am saying; I'm not going to tell you, that's for sure" style of writing, where Jackson adopts the latter, exclusively. There are far better books out there. Go look for them.

Excellence in Physics
First off, this is either a graduate book or a senior undergraduate book in Physics. The book assumes at least 2 years of college math, preferably for engineering or physics folks.

What sets this book apart is the focus on physics is perfect as we understand E&M theory at this point. Unlike other imperfect college texts like Lorraine and Courson, this book contains no errors. While some may no like "and the proof is left to the reader", the book is meant to teach people who are focused on physics but can describe the process mathematically as well as in regular language.

The assumption is that there has already been a rigorous introduction of both physics and mathematics so this book is NOT a casual read.

The beauty of this book is that it's not just teaching knowledge but it teaches one how to think. To those who can rise to the occasion and draw upon their education, professors and peers, there is the satisfaction of really understanding E&M clearly and concisely.

To those who only seek rote knowledge, this book will be too challenging.

Good old Jackson
I like Jackson, but I think that most people don't.

Anyway, the reason I'm writing this is to tell the
Reviewer from July 12, 2000 that Jackson DID write
another book. It's called
"The Physics of Elementary Particles." ... Read more

Book Description

Principles of Optics is one of the classic science books of the twentieth century, and probably the most influential book in optics published in the past forty years. This edition has been thoroughly revised and updated, with new material covering the CAT scan, interference with broad-band light and the so-called Rayleigh-Sommerfeld diffraction theory. This edition also details scattering from inhomogeneous media and presents an account of the principles of diffraction tomography to which Emil Wolf has made a basic contribution. Several new appendices are also included. This new edition will be invaluable to advanced undergraduates, graduate students and researchers working in most areas of optics. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Good book
It is just a rare book on physical optics based on Maxwell equations. Rarely a book states the assumptions,the validity of the equations, the principles and how the equations arrived. Certainly, it is a great book for postgraduates and researchers in physical optics not so for undergraduate students who don't want to go through all the mathematics.

A Classic
This book is a classic with all problems associated. Half of the reference quoted have been written before the WWII. Very useful if you like to quote original papers. This book cover most topics of the classical optics but hardy cover modern topics.

However, it is hard to read and use a weird notation. Certainly not useful for rapid referencing. Like the bible, use it only when you have serious problem to deal with.

the reference.
It is of course the reference for optics, and is very complete
and rigorous. I didn't learn optics from it, I only use it
as a reference and I suppose that is its function.
It feels a bit oldfashioned (for example, I haven't found
speckel applications in the chapter on coherence) but I
suppose that that is due to the fact that it is a classic.
My other, personal, objection is that I hate Gaussian
units, I prefer by far SI units. Even Jackson finally
conceded to switch to SI units, but Wolf clings on this
Gaussian system.

Good professional reference book, but not for students.
Already for many years, this is a classic on optics. Almost any subject you can think of is covered in this book, in a fundamental way. That is its strength and its weakness: experienced scientists will find everything they need, but for students it is not a good book because it is far to detailed: they will get lost in all the mathematical details before they grasp the essence of the subject.

This problem also exists - to a lesser extent - for professionals who try to use the book to fill in a gap in their knowledge: they too will find themselves asking why they have to read so many (well thought-through) pages before the authors finally make their point.

My advice: use other books to study from, and use this book when you are already experienced and need a high-quality reference work.

A note for scienctists: please mention section numbers when referring to this book in your own publications.

excellent to study from
The Born and Wolf Principles of Optics text is, without a doubt, a classic. At first, it was hard for me to get into the text because I could not see a physics test without problems or exercises at the end of every chapter, but I realized, through this book, that there was a better way to study. Now I'm getting more out of all the texts and journals I study by internalizing the information through memorization and so on instead of learning just enough to work the problems. What I learn from Born and Wolf will take me a long way. ... Read more

Book Description

Part of the Basic Skills in Electricity and Electronics Series, Electricity makes the introduction to this discipline easy to understand. The program assumes no previous training in the subject; only arithmetic and an introduction to algebra are used in explanations and problems. The text begins with a coverage of the fundamentals of direct current. This leads to a unified presentation of subject generally associated with alternating currents. Throughout the text, concepts build from one chapter to another. This important feature enables students to develop a unified understanding of electricity and the applications of electricity.

A dedication to student learning is evident throughout the text. Every page features a vertical color bar that focuses on key words. Many illustrations with a unique four-color design highlight the most important elements. Short self-tests (with answers provided) are presented throughout the text to offer immediate reinforcement and build students' confidence. Another valuable feature is the summary of key concepts found at the end of each chapter. This new edition also includes performance objectives and critical-thinking questions for every chapter.

The Activities Manual offers a wide variety of hands-on applications, including experiments that emphasize practical aspects of troubleshooting. It also includes pretests and posttests, research projects, and construction projects.

The Instructor's Manual is designed to help you present a unifed course. It contains answers to all problems in the text and representative data for all the experiments. New to this edition of the Instructor's Manual is a computerized test generator. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Electricity, Not Electronics
Electricity.
This is a subject that is often glossed over or dismissed in favor of Electronics.

A firm grasp of Electricity is needed before one can hope to master Electronics.

This remarkable book does just that. It is written in an intuitive manner allowing a novice to progress through the subject with ease.

For the those who practice Electricity for a living, it is a welcome refresher. Even the "Old Salt" who has been doing it for years: there are lots of "Ah Ha's," yet to be discovered.

This Book should not be underestimated or dismissed; it is worth exploring.

Horrible Stay Clear
This book is written for someone with a 6th grade education and no more. It talks about magamps for pete's sake. It dosen't even broach the subject of transistors. NO TRANSISTOR THEORY!! What in sakes is electronics if not transistors! The stupid objectives at the beginning of each chapter, and the even worst review problems at the end of each chapter are simply a waste of pages. I am a former nuke electrician from the navy and a current IC Fabrication Technician in the semiconductor industry. I purchased the book to just stay up on my studies, but this book fell way short. My fiancee's daughter has learned almost everything that is covered in this book, and she is only in the 7th grade. Be forewarned, a bad book indeed.

This is an excellent book for beginners in electricity.
This book is written in the standard format for a classroom environment, which makes it very easy to follow and find previously read topics you may have forgotten. However, some sections would be easier to learn with the aid of a teacher; although, it is still possible to learn the material without one. This book covers a wide range of topics for electricity, but not many applications of it. Over all, this book provides you with a strong foundation in the electrical field. ... Read more

Book Description

Fundamentals of Semiconductor Devices provides a realistic and practical treatment of modern semiconductor devices. A solid understanding of the physical processes responsible for the electronic properties of semiconductor materials and devices is emphasized.With this emphasis, the reader will appreciate the underlying physics behind the equations derived and their range of applicability. The author’s clear writing style, comprehensive coverage of the core material, and attention to current topics are key strengths of this book. ... Read more

Book Description

This book describes the operation of a particular technique for the production of compound semiconductor materials. It describes how the technique works, how it can be used for the growth of particular materials and structures, and the application of these materials for specific devices. It contains not only a fundamental description of the operation of the technique but also contains lists of data useful for the everyday operation of OMVPE reactors. It also offers specific recipes that can be used to produce a wide range of specific materials, structures, and devices.

Key Features
* Updated with new emphasis on the semiconducting nitride materials-GaN and its alloys with In and Al
* Emphasizes the newly understood aspects of surface processes
* Contains a new chapter, as well as several new sections in chapters on thermodynamics and kinetics ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Definitely a masterpiece
I'm surprised by the online reviews for this book so far and it seems to me they are written by people who do not fully understand (or appreciate) the kinetic, thermodynamic, thermal issues, mass transport, fluid dynamic or reactor design aspects of OMVPE. Whether you're starting out or have been in the field for a while, this book is a must have. Stringfellow is one of the few people who understands the finer aspects of OMVPE. His qualitative and quantitative treatment of concepts is lucid, accurate and comprehensive. The older edition was getting out of date. The newer one adds information generated in the recent past. I would suggest browsing through the book and rating it yourself. You will not be disappointed.

Not a particularly useful text
If you are unfamiliar with the field of OMVPE this text would serve as a good introduction. It does indeed cover the fundamentals of the OMVPE process. However, that is about all it covers. For those in industry or academia who are already acquainted with OMVPE, this book adds very little to your knowledge or understanding. The theoretical and mathematical treatment of the various issues listed is practically nonexistent. The sections that actually contain formulae are few and far between. Again, this is great if you are just starting to learn; this is rather disappointing if you are looking for an in-depth treatment of OMVPE. The one saving grace is that there are extensive lists of references that you can track down to find the details that are left out of the book itself. That's a lot of money for just a reference list though.

Stringfellow is the authority on OMVPE. Great Book.
This is a great book if you want to know the science of OMVPE. Stringfellow is considered by many people to be the authority on this subject. You can't go wrong with this book. It's referenced in nearly every OMVPE journal article I have read.

Buy This Book If You're Using Someone Else's Money!!
This has come to be used as a text or reference in the field of compound semiconductor epitaxy only because of the absence of anything better! This is a cursory introduction to a very broad field by a man whose own experiences have little relevance or bearing on the state of the art. A fair attempt is made at covering the basics of the subject and a good number of relevant publications are cited. Unfortunately the book has all the charm and utility of the author which cannot be quantatively evaluated without the use of negative numbers! I have found a good use for this book in my laboratory though, as one of my workbenches had a short leg under which this fit nicely! ... Read more

Book Description

Highly respected authors have reunited to update the well known 1981 edition which is still hailed as one of the best in its field. This edition includes recent antenna innovations and applications. It features a succinct treatment of the finite difference, time domain (FDTD) computational technique. It is also the first text to treat physical theory of diffraction (PTD). ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Needs table of symbols
In a book that is heavily mathematic, it is very useful to have a table of symbols to refer to. However, this text not only has no such table, but the author often fails to define the symbols he uses! He cannot assume that the symbols he uses is so standard that the reader will already be familiar with them. Also, he even often fails to define his terms directly, but relies on homonyms in subsequent sentences, and apparently expects the reader to infer the meaning, and to know that he refers to the previous concept. However, this can lead to many misunderstandings and impedes the progress of learning substantially.

Great Antenna Book
This is a good Antenna Book. It gives a clear introduction on how wave radiates from antenna, and gives many practical examples on how to design various antennas. I particularly like one of the design problem where a TV antenna (Yagi-Uda Antenna) can be constructed cheaply using coat hangers. Although it does not have as many examples as the antenna book by Balanis, it still covers many aspects of antenna analysis including method of moments and FDTD.

Solid, no compromise professional text.
It even feels heavy ! Discones, patches, loops, rhombics - good solid theory even on the less common. A good (slightly dated) review of computer design tools. Recommended for professionals in the antenna field (no pun intended).

Excellent book !
Exceptional book ! Antenna Theory and Design provides many insights that have helped me in my profession. The author clarifies and simplifies complex antenna theories enabling the reader to apply the information in design. I highly recommend this book for anybody in the communication field.

Mark L. Zimmerman, Systems Engineer, New River Community College Dublin Virginia ... Read more

Book Description

Fully updated-the classic comprehensive introduction to color technology
The Third Edition of Billmeyer and Saltzman's Principles of Color Technology combines the clarity and ease of use of earlier editions with two decades of advancement in the theory and technology of color. Defining color as "a certain kind of light, its effect on the human eye, or (most important of all) the result of this effect in the mind of the viewer," the book offers detailed coverage of color, colorants, the coloring of materials, and reproducing the color of materials through imaging.
While retaining important material on the color technology of paints, plastics, textiles, and other materials, the Third Edition features in-depth coverage of computer-generated color, digital image capture, desktop color printing, and color management-achieving color fidelity among scanners, digital cameras, and other color imaging devices. The new edition of Principles of Color Technology offers expanded coverage that includes:
* Measuring color quality-a new chapter describes the principles and applications of setting instrumental color tolerances
* Mathematics of color technology-a new appendix presents principles of color technology using mathematics
* Color modeling-additional material covers CRT displays and color printing
Supplemented with copious numerical examples, graphs, and illustrations that clarify and explain complex material, as well as side bars that present technical details in a well-organized, accessible manner, this excellent and exciting introduction for newcomers to the field is also a valuable reference for experienced color technologists, color specialists, chemical and industrial engineers, computer scientists, research scientists, and mathematicians interested in color. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Student Review of B&S Principles of Color Technology
The latest edition of Billmeyer and Saltzman's Principles of Color Technology is a complete rewrite. The author's use of in-text examples and "back to principles" appendix facilitate understanding of the concepts. The range of color science conepts (from basic colorimetry to an end-to-end color imaging system) make it a must-have for the color science student to the experienced color professional. ... Read more

Book Description

Deals with the topic of interference (electromagnetic compatibility) in electronic systems. It builds on basic undergraduate electrical engineering concepts and principles and applies them to the design of electronic systems that operate compatibly with other electronic systems and do not create interference phenomena. To facilitate classroom teaching it is divided in two parts. The first provides the basic principles and skills for review, while the second refers to applications and aspects of EMC design. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

I took Prof. Paul's class using this book as text.
As an engineering student at the University of Kentucky, I took Clayton Paul's EMC class using this book as a text. I took it as a senior elective, but the class was about 50/50 undergrad/grad students (just to give you an idea of the book's intended level).

Several years later as a working engineer in the telecom industry, I still keep and occasionally use Paul's book as reference. EMC isn't something I face that often, but this book is ideal for someone like me who only has to deal with it maybe three or four times a year. With a pretty good engineering and math background, you should have no trouble getting what you need from this book. I recommend it.

But, yes, it does contain quite a few errors. Most of them are just annoying grammatical mistakes, but there are also a handful of technical ones I've found as well. Still, most are obvious enough that they won't steer you in any wrong directions, so don't worry about that. They don't diminish the book's usefulness.

Great Book - Read it all.
Starting first with the negatives, of which they are four. First, do not be fooled by the title word "introduction." This is NOT a book for beginners, but rather senior engineers. If you are new to EMC this is not the book for you. Second, information relative to FCC/CE requirements is dated. Also, some tests relative to CE compliance are not covered. Third, though there are many diagrams, there are almost no pictures. In many cases I found a picture, as opposed to a diagram would have been far more explanatory. Lastly (though it does not bother me in the least, but I thought you would like to know), the book has numerous typos through out its 752 pages.

Ahhhhhh, but what the book is, IS ABSOLUTLY WONDERFUL! As an experienced design consultant, I found information in this book that I have not, and could not find anywhere else. The author has A COMMAND of the subject and it shows. Compared to my peers, I consider myself fairly well versed in the subject of EMC as it pertains to design and debug, but I took a back seat when reading. It was useful even re-reading the things I already knew. The author always offered a new insight. Funny, but after I finished (and it took a while to read) my first thought was "I would really like to meet this guy - to personally request a sequel." For what it is, THIS BOOK IS EXCELLENT, well worth the asking price.

Best in its field
This book is excellent. The author has the unique ability to cover the subject in great detail including all the theory, but yet make the reading very easy and enjoyable. I was amazed that I could read 750 pages of advanced and new material in a few weeks. The book unfortunately has many errors and typos which prevents me from giving it 5 stars. ... Read more

Book Description

Semiconductor Material and Device Characterization is the only book on the market devoted to the characterization techniques used by the modern semiconductor industry to measure diverse semiconductor materials and devices. It covers the full range of electrical and optical characterization methods while thoroughly treating the more specialized chemical and physical techniques.

This newly revamped and expanded Second Edition incorporates the many innovations that have come to dominate the field during the past decade. From scanning probe techniques to the detection of metallic impurities in silicon wafers to the use of microwave reflection to measure contactless resistivity, each chapter presents state-of-the-art tools and techniques, most of which were in their infancy or had not yet been developed when the previous edition first came out. Featured here are:
* An entirely new chapter on reliability and probe microscopy
* Numerous examples and end-of-chapter problems - new to this edition
* Five hundred illustrations revised for this edition
* Updated bibliography with over 1,200 references
* Easy-to-use text including a real-world mix of units rather than strictly MKS units.

This practical new edition is ideal for textbook adoptions at the graduate level and is destined to become an essential reference for research and development teams in the semiconductor industry. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Great reference
Schroder has compiled an extensive and very nearly complete guide to modern characterization techniques that apply mostly to semiconductors and solid state devices, but also to techniques used in general materials analysis. We used this text in a graduate level course in EE and found it easy to read through and concise for use as a quick reference. Well worth the money.

Semiconductor Material and Device Characterization
This book offers an outstanding review of various techniques of semiconductor device processing. It is the type of book that is an invaluable reference to the device engineer. It's breadth is outstanding. ... Read more

Book Description

A second course in electromagnetics, offering integrated, detailed coverage of the classical topics, from Maxwell's equations to Green's functions. Covers electromagnetic boundary-value problems in rectangular, cylindrical, and spherical coordinates. Also includes computer programs for the solution of assigned problems. ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Excellent reference book with a good mathematical approach.
I used this book during Electromagnetics I and II. It is very useful specially for topics concerning electromagnetic waves. The mathematical approach is very good and justifies most of the basic Electromagnetic concepts.

Great book!Great book!Great book!
This is an extraordinary book to learn advanced electromagnetics from.Mr Balanis is Greek and it seems to me he uses the same method Socrates invented more than 2000 years ago which is the following as reported by Plato:truth (in this case electromagnetic theory)is present in everyone of us,what is left to the wise educator (teaching engineer)is to make everyone conscious of this inner truth using the most simple method of reducing the whole to its most elementary pieces and then using basic logic for reassemble it in a conscious way.This is exactly Mr Balanis winning strategy:he begins from the most basical things in electromagnetic theory like wave equations ,Poynting vectors and potential theory and then progresses in the clearest possible way to very advanced topics like scattering theory ,integral methods,Green functionts etc.etc.What is wonderful is that you are able to grasp the use of very advanced mathematical objects like special functions (Bessel,Hankel etc.etc.)with a reasonable effort(in many other text of comparable level they suppose you know more or less everything of this stuff!).In the end you are able to actually develop your analytical models for the analysis of real problems.The only improvement of this semi-perfect book would be to explain more of the included Fortran code.I give this book 5 stars! Grazie Mr Balanis!

Detailed, clear, & accurate
Great book! I had to solve a 2D scattering problem using the Electric Field Integral Equation (EFIE). The book helped me to get quickly into the exact solution with its detailed and clear step-by-step derivations by reading just the relevant chapter. Its equations and cross references are very helpful. Most important, the examples enabled me to check out that the EFIE code I wrote (using its approximated expressions for the singularity points!) is error free.

Open up and say Ahhhh :p
I'm not saying that this is a horrible book. It's just that Balanis walks you through steps of his proofs as if you're a mathematical klutz. He'll write out EVERY step in almost every proof, most of the steps in this book being trivial substitutions. He'll also repeat EVERYTHING for every single case (TE, TM etc...) This serves no purpose (except to give me back pain from carrying this heavy book) since:
1. If you want to really understand the proof, you're going to have to do it yourself and figure something out yourself.
2. If you just want to use the book as a reference, then all you need is the solution.

Overall though, it is probably a very practical book for electrical engineers.

Advanced Engineering Electromagnetics
This book is useful as a reference since it gives a 'fair' treatment of many problems in electromagnetics. This is why it is on my bookshelf. However, I find its style dense and meandering which I interpret as a substitute for depth and concision. As such, it is itself usually a reference of last resort or a means to other references. I put it in the same category as Jackson - both of which I would not dream of using as a textbook for students.

Dublin, Ireland. ... Read more

Book Description

This book is based on the modern conceptual understanding of crystal fields. It clarifies several issues that have historically produced confusion in this area, particularly the effects of covalency and ligand polarization on the energy spectra of magnetic ions. This comprehensive volume provides readers with clear instructions and a set of computer programs for the phenomenological analysis of energy spectra of magnetic ions insolids. Readers are shown how to employ a hierarchy of parametrized models to extract as much information as possible from observed lanthanide and actinide spectra. All computer programs included in the volume are freely available on the Internet. It will be of particular interest to graduate students and researchers working in the development of opto-electronic systems and magnetic materials. ... Read more

Book Description

This graduate textbook designed for students in physics, chemistry and materials science provides a modern treatment of the theory of solids dealing with the physics of electron and phonon states in crystals and how they determine the structure and properties of solids.The first part of the book deals with electrons and atoms in a crystal, and the second part extends the discussion to defects in crystals and to structures without crystalline symmetry. There are numerous exercises throughout and appendices to provide the necessary background. ... Read more

Book Description

This Third Edition of the popular text, while retaining nearly all the material of the previous edition, incorporates material on important new developments in lasers and quantum electronics. Covers phase-conjugate optics and its myriad applications, the long wavelength quaternary semiconductor laser, and our deepened understanding of the physics of semiconductor lasers--especially that applying to their current modulations and limiting bandwidth, laser arrays and the related concept of supermodes, quantum well semiconductor lasers, the role of phase amplitude coupling in laser noise, and free-electron lasers. In addition, the chapters on laser noise and third-order nonlinear effects have been extensively revised. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

If you like rigor in physics books, this is not your type.
This book is a quick intro into optoelectronics. I mean quick. Really. Not much rigor (physical or mathematical) is to be found in this book. As I read the book, I kept having the feeling that the mathematical derivations are laid out to lead to the results desired, and if there have to be a dozen assumptions and approximations or skips in steps made to achieve the goal, then so be it. As for the justifications for those assumptions, why, they help you get to the desired results. For your amusement, I will point out one of such sneaky skips. Look first at Eq 8-1-17. If you don't like to take things for granted, you have verified this expression to your satisfaction. You are happy with it. Now fast forward to 8-7-3. Look at how there is a degeneracy factor in the Rabi frequency. Can you verify it?

As I've said, if you want rigor, this book will disappoint you. Unfortunately, it appears that just about every book in optoelectronics is written rather loosely in this sense. So you are really stuck with this one, more or less.

Excellent Book!
One of the few books that bridges the gap between general laser theory and semiconductor lasers. Excellent explanations and the derivations are detailed enough to follow (if you want), but not to the point where the meaning is lost.

Too brief, unexplanatory. Avoid using for teaching purposes
Explanations are often brief, making reference to other works rather than filling in the details. As a student, I've used it for several graduate courses, and have found a need to reference other books such as Siegman's "Lasers" in order to understand the material. This is a common reaction, based upon classmates. Derivations leave out numerous steps for brevity, sometimes crucial ones. Often states results from other works, without any explanation. It often seems a collection of material drawn from numerous sources, with little thought to connecting the ideas and notation into a teaching tool. May be more useful as a reference.

best book i used
this book is very good for graduate students who focus on quantum world. and the problems attached in each chapter are very useful for readers to check by themselves whether they really understand each topic or not. but my experience was that you usually need to read it twice to fully understand what the author's meaning. anyway, this is the best book i used among those optoelectronics's books.

So and so text in Quantum Eletronics.
I have used this book for 3 courses in my faculty and i find this not a very good text for students.Mr Yariv style is a higly nonlinear one and he constantly assumes you know the things that you bought the book to understand.On the plus side his book is very comprehensive.I rate this book 2 stars. ... Read more

Book Description

This revised edition provides patient guidance in its clear and organized presentation of problems. It is rich in variety, large in number and provides very careful treatment of relativity. One outstanding feature is the inclusion of simple, standard examples demonstrated in different methods that will allow students to enhance and understand their calculating abilities. There are over 145 worked examples; virtually all of the standard problems are included. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Excellent practical and accessible reference.
This book is indeed very modular, if you have any previous EM training and the required mathematical skills you won't have any difficulty using this as a practical, working reference. As a consequence of the modularity, there is some repetition of the information but it's a small price to pay for the completeness of the individual modules.

One of my favorite features of the writing is the clear references to previous results making it easy to review the references (and completely eliminates any need to search the index). I far prefer this to the usual method to make only vague references to previously developed concepts and is one reason why I find this is a good reference work.

Overall, the level is more advanced than Cook though better written. Some of the development of the material is rather novel (e.g., Amperes Law) and considerably more approachable than corresponding works by Smythe (ugh), Peck, or Stratton. I recommend Feynmans lectures in addition to this book. I find the two complement each other quite nicely.

Nicely done.
I believe there are basically two breeds in the world of EM textbooks. One is obviously J.D. Jackson and the other E.M. Purcell. If Griffiths follows Purcell's approach, I'd say Wangsness is in the style of Jackson (of course no direct comparison is possible, Jackson does not really discuss statics anyway).

Wangness is very much _detailed_ and provides ample examples, many of them kindly worked out. I am not sure if this book provides strong background in vector calculus, though. I always had troubles getting some geometrical intuitions. I guess I have learned more from Purcell in this respect.

Of course, there are many other great books such as Lorrain/Corson, Feynman volume 2 and such. Should be nice to look at those as well.

Not the greatest, but respectable.
... one might note that this book is developed in such a waythat makes it quite modular. At first Wangsness develops an examplecompletely, often leading to daunting equations. This is wonderful. However if you want to pick and choose a few key assumptions, and developed a more specific case, you can do that with Wagness' help, as well.

Some of the problems are tedious, and void of instruction. Oftentimes, one has to result to digging through the chapter just to find the correct equation, leaving you with no physical intuition of what is really happening. If a professor drew up their own problems to accompany this text, you'd definitely have a winner. END

Griffiths this, Griffiths that.
OK, OK... so Griffiths is a very good text. I believe this book is better, having read both. Overall, 'EM Fields' is very well written, providing a strong background in vector calculus to bolster the topics that follow. I agree with the other reviewer who writes that explanations are based on mathematical rather than physical arguments. However, I find this style easier to understand. I do not believe that this formalism detracts from an overall grasp of the material, provided that physical intuition is used as well.

Respectable E&M book
This text has its good points: Its calculations are all done in careful, explicit detail, and it contains a lot of physics which you won't find elsewhere. (In particular, its discussion of wave propagation in media is quite good.) However, the book has a few problems: Its discussion of radiation is rather weak (compared with Griffiths, for instance). And it is not very well written: Wangsness' derivations tend to rely more upon mathematical manipulations than physical principles. Readers who would prefer a solid discussion of the _physics_ of electromagnetic fields should (depending on their math backgrounds) consult either Jackson or Griffiths. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (42)

No riddle. No story.
What a little mess of a book. You see, as it turns out, there isn't really much of a riddle to the invention of the compass. In fact, there isn't really much of a story to the invention of the compasss, or if there is, Dr. Aczel has not stumbled upon it.

So, in order to fill out the pages of this small book, the author spins some unrelated stories that he then tries to somehow pin to the "riddle of the compass." For instance, we are treated to a history of Venice from the Romans to Napolean. Why? Well it seems that as seafaring people, the Venetians probably USED the compass. Or another entire chapter on the travels of Marco Polo to China that ends by noting -- not that Marco Polo had ANYTHING to do with the compass -- but that his travels "prove the feasibility of transport between China and the West. [Polo's] journeys underscore the likelihood that sometime between the Roman era and his own peiord a compass would have arrived in Europe among the many goods that traveled the routes he and his father and uncle took in the late Middle Ages." (I guess I was under the impression that the existence of SOME East-West trade during the Middle Ages was pretty well-accepted. But the Polo trip fills 12 pages of text.)

In these types of books, the relevant digressions are often the essence of what makes for fascinating reading. But here the digressions are almost comically tagential. One feels that Dr. Aczel, if assigned to explicate the story of Little Red Riding Hood, would somehow find his way to a discussion of McCarty-era red-baiting in the little town of Hood, Oregon.

Because there is little to say on the topic, the author struggles to make what might have been a magazine article into a book. As a consequence, the story being told feels silly and the book is poorly organized and frustrating to read.

The Compass In History
Amir Aczel presents us with the story of the origins of the compass, in as much detail as scholars have been able to discover. Aczel covers the use of the compass with ancient mariners and how these mariners had to rely on other navigational aids in the days before the compass, such as wind, plants, sounding lines, sea life, geography, currents, etc.. Also mentioned as well is the use of stars in determining latitude, longitude was much more difficult to determine due to the lack of accurate chronometers in early times.

Much of this volume deals with the origin of the 16 point wind rose and how it became incorporated into the modern compass, documented with events and ancient documents in China, and Italy, up to medival times and beyond. This includes discussions of the Etruscans, the cities of Amalfi and Venice, the explorer Marco Polo, all relating to the development of the compass. The second to last chapter sketches the voyages in the Great Age Of Exploration which were vastly aided by the compass, in addition to the astrolabe, a precursor of the sextant.

I believe that Amir Aczel made a very good case here that the compass is one of the pivitol inventions of humanity. Ask yourself this: if the compass had never been invented (which would have slowed down trade and the exchange of information and ideas) how many years of progress would have been lost? My wild guess is 50-100 years of lost progress, a lot.

Short and yet comprehensive and fascinating book
This book is short and reads fast, but it covers its topic--how the compass came about and how navigation was changed by its use--very well. It talks about how navigation worked before the compass (dispelling the myth that ships hugged the coastline to avoid getting lost). It looks worldwide for evidence of magnets used for direction finding throughout history, not always for use in navigation. All in all, a fun and informative book.

What was the riddle?
There are a variety of interesting facts presented, but the narrative fails. Aczel organizes his comments around a visit to Amalfi, Italy. According to the book, he arrives in Amalfi to celebrate the birth of Flavio Gioia, a celebrated 13th century Amalfi native whom locals credit with inventing the compass. Wanting to know more about Flavio, he goes to an Amalfi library for research reading. The result is this little tome. At the book's conclusion, our investigative reporter looks up at the understanding librarian, provides words of appreciation and leaves.

We then learn that the first known use of magnetic direction devices was Chinese divination practice, now known as Feng Shui. It seems the first use of a compass was architectural. The Chinese liked having their front doors facing the auspicious south. Sometime around 1100, someone in Italy discoved Feng Shui navigation. It seems Feng Shui architectural tools were equally useful for turning a boat's bow to the south. Further, the always inventive Italians put the device in a box for easy divination during off shore religious services. This was particularly useful during inclement weather.

I guess the 'riddle' was 'who was Fabio Gioa?', but this pleasant chunk of local folklore is quickly dismissed as legend springing from a missing comma in some 15th century manuscript. An alternative might have been 'who invented the compass,' but it is clear this cannot be deduced. A third mystery involves the changing 'compass rose'. On ancient maps, there were 12 directions. Sometime during the 13th century, maps started using a 16 direction 'compass rose'. Who or what sparked that change?

While these issues have the makings of an excellent story on the social shaping of technology, the author never really bring the issues into focus. There are lots of curious details, but the author forgets the punchline.

A lot of time is spend speculating on who 'invented' the compass. Since the familiar European compass is little more than a boxed Chinese 'pivoting magnetized needle', it isn't clear the 12th century Italian design is really an 'invention' at all. This could have provided an interesting segway to an investigation of 'creation' myths in general. It seems many medieval technological imports from China and/or the Muslim Caliphates get transmuted from 'import' to 'invention' in the 16th century. Why these myths were so important, and still offered credibility seems an important topic, but Aczel only alludes to the issue.

Fascinating Tale About The Riddle & Compass History
The reviews of this book go from one extreme to the other- are you confused about reading this book? As one reviewer suggested to the naysayers- lighten-up! I agree. This book is well presented and covers far more than the "riddle" of who invented the navigational compass, although that alone is worth the read.

The history of the compass starting with the ancient Chinese discovery of the magnetic qualities of lodestone and applying that knowledge to construct a land use compass, then following the invention around the world and over centuries until it was discovered to be useful for sea navigation and it's design perfection as it traveled from one country to the next up to contemporary times, is also worth the read.

Aczel's treatment of this subject includes his account as a young man and his own time spent in the pilot house of ocean liners learning navigation from his seafaring father and captain. He learned the importance of a compass as a navigation aid and this was a great prelude to writing with hands-on knowledge.

Some of the naysayers have attempted to dilute the importance of the compass as a navigational aid- hah! Like Aczel, I too, have spent much time on the ocean and for those that think sailing without a compass is no big thing, consider the older tools of navigation, i.e., guiding by the stars, etc. What do you guide by with during cloudy skies, turbulent seas and no land in sight for weeks or months on end? The compass is unaffected by those conditions and it also lead to accurate, cross-ocean, long distance mapping of the entire world. And they said that's no big thing???? Landlubbers- sheesh!

After finishing this book, I read "The Compass" by Paula Z. Hogan, 1980. Although it was writen for children 9-12, it is a great read for all ages, very informative and at only 60 pages long plus illustrations and experiments, packs more relevant compass info than any book I've read and is great companion to Aczel's book. ... Read more

Book Description

Covers the theory of electromagnetic fields in matter, and the theory of macroscopic electric and magnetic properties of matter. There is a considerable amount of new material particularly on the theory of the magnetic properties of matter and the theory
of optical phenomena with new chapters on spatial dispersion and non-linear optics. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

The BEST
It the best. I mean the whole course. If you can read Russian buy the original book - they are very very cheap (hardbound): a couple of dollars.

A masterpiece.
In the beginning there was ether. Then Maxwell discovered his wonderful equations and Einstein, drawing inspiration therefrom, discovered Relativity. There was no longer an ether. Thank God! For, before, every electric, magnetic and optical phenomenon was supposed to be explained by properties of this ubiquitous ether. For a brilliant account of the physics of the ether, read "Aether", by Maxwell himself, at the Encyclopaedia Britannica (not the present edition: go to* and look at the Classics). Since Lorentz it became fashionable, and sensible, to, first, derive all properties of the electromagnetic fiel in vacuum, and, then, to introduce matter and the complications which appear (and which give rise to most of the beauty of the world). This wonderful book deals with these complications, and shows the beauties that come out of them. This is a high class text, the reader being supposed to know all of basic physics, including, of course, quantum mechanics. Thermodynamics is used lavishly for static or quasi-static situations, providing depth and cohesion. Did you know that you cannot, in this age of new materials, concoct one with electric permittivity (the familiar epsilon) smaller than one lest you violate the second law of thermodynamics? The chapter on electromagnetic waves is superb, with the best treatment of light dispersion to be found anywhere. Did you know that you cannot produce a transparent material which would disperse light in a different sequence of colours than that of the usual glass prism lest you violate causality? You have to read this book. Grab your copy while you can find it. One never knows.

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS ON MACROSCOPIC ELECTRODYNAMICS!
This is the Volume 8 of the famous Course of Theoretical Physics by L. D. Landau and E. M. Lifshitz. All serious students of theoretical physics must possess the ten volumes of this excellent Course, which cover in detail and rigour practically all the branches of theoretical physics. The Volume 8 treats the subject of the electromagnetic fields in matter, or the macroscopic electrodynamics. The book contains all the basic theory of macroscopic electrodynamics, discussing at the same time some more specialized and very interesting topics. The discussion is rigorous and very detailed, with clarity of exposition. There exists also in this book chapters not usually found in other similar books, such as the chapters on the dynamics of magnetic fluids, the theory of the interaction of fast particles with matter(for example, the Cerenkov radiation), the macroscopic theory of superconductivity and the theory of diffraction of X rays in crystals. There exists a little appendice! on curvilinear coordinates, which serves to auxiliate the reader in the mathematical calculations. Moreover, the authors discuss in a very elegant manner mathematical methods for solving problems in electrostatics, such as for example the method of conformal mapping. Certainly one of the best books on macroscopic electrodynamics! ... Read more

Book Description

Recent advances in semiconductor technology have made possible the fabrication of structures whose dimensions are much smaller than the mean free path of an electron. This book gives the first thorough account of the theory of electronic transport in such mesoscopic systems. Beginning with coverage of fundamental concepts, the book presents a detailed account of transmission function formalism which is used to describe three key topics in mesoscopic physics: the quantum Hall effect, localization, and double-barrier tunneling. Other sections include a discussion of optical analogies to mesoscopic phenomena, followed by a concluding description of the non-equilibrium Green's function formalism and its relation to the transmission formalism. Complete with problems and solutions, the book will be of great interest to graduate students of mesoscopic physics and nanoelectronic device engineering, as well as to established researchers in these fields. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Integrals from my heart
A few words to just sum it up, SUPER DATTA. The electro-moelecur analysis presented by author Super Datta is an incredible interpretation in defining the forier series. Euler's Identity is not only sexy, but intellectually stimulating. My boyfriend Michael and I a few weekends ago in Key West Florida had the opportunity to visit with Super Datta. While sipping tasty tropical beverages and listening to KC and the Sunshine band, we contemplated for hours over quantum mechanical models. This is simply the beginning of the decaying power sears.

Super Data, Super Job, I'm simply, In love

sincerely

*Timothy*

A great book
The book primarily describes the so-called transmission formalism which is applied to electron transport in mesoscopic systems. Yet the main strength of the book is its introduction of the powerful, yet easy to implement numerically, apparatus of single-particle Green's functions. A device engineer armed with the knowledge of this apparatus and a copy of MatLab should be able to accurately model conductance and charge distribution in devices on the scale of tens of nanometers. Indeed, the book illustrates the application of the apparatus to transmission calculations in devices such as resonant tunneling diodes and single-electron transistors. The book provides much more than calculation recipes; the roots and physical relevance of the transmission formalism are well explained by examples such as the quantum Hall effect and conductance fluctuations. The text should be a great aid to future nanoelectronic device engineers. ... Read more