Curry C. Wave optics. Interference and Diffraction

London, Edward Arnold (publishers) LTD., First published 1957. — 156 p.The level of treatment of Interference and Diffraction in this volume lies intermediate between the elementary and more advanced accounts already available to Physics students. The aim has been to produce a book suitable for the first and second post-intermediate years of a General course, or for the first year of a three-year Special Physics course.The author has long felt the simpler treatments available to be inadequate, while the fuller and more advanced books are somewhat heavy for a student to tackle in the early stages. A fairly comprehensive account of the subject, lucid and not too mathematical, has therefore been attempted; emphasis is placed on principles, illustrated by some representative experimental effects, and on practical applications. It is hoped that students new to the subject may find here a useful introduction, and at the same time obtain a general view of this branch of physics, unobscured by too many details and sufficient in itself for many purposes, yet supplying also an adequate basis for intelligent entrance into more advanced reading where this is necessary.