Abstract

This volume presents a review of the research in several areas of modern optics written by experts well-known in the international scientific community. The first chapter discusses properties and methods of production and detection of coherent superpositions of macroscopically distinguishable states of light (the so-called Schrodinger cat states). Chapter two deals with the phase-shift method, which originated in the 1930s, for the analysis of potential-scattering problems in atomic and nuclear physics. Recently this approach has been applied to wave propagation in one-dimensional inhomogeneous media. Chapter three is concerned with the statistical properties of dynamic laser speckles that arise from scattering objects with rough surfaces undergoing translation and rotation. A moving phase-screen model is employed, which gives a relatively simple formulation of the theory and a clear picture of the time-varying speckle phenomenon. The fourth chapter presents a review of the more important theoretical and experimental results relating to optics of multilayer systems with randomly rough boundaries. The significant theoretical approaches which make it possible to interpret experimental data involving such systems are described, and relevant methods for optical characterization of systems of this kind are outlined. The last chapter presents an account of a theory of the photon transport through turbid media.