These proceedings reflect the work presented at the conference "Interferometry in Speckle Light: Theory and Applications", held at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, (EPFL), the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland. The event took place from September 25 to September 28, 2000. Thanks to the diligence of the authors, this book has been published just in time for the conference. Writing this preface in July, in anticipation of the conference, we have tried to envisage how this book will benefit the quality of discourse between authors and attendees. "Interferometry in Speckle Light: Theory and Applications" results from a bottom-up approach and is original in several ways. This conference is not part of a series; on the contrary, it is a single event. The idea of gathering scientists and engineers for a general discussion on the theory and the practice of interferometry, involving rough, non-optically polished objects, was "in the air". An opportunity of this sort was not provided by any of the conferences scheduled when the present one was conceived. For this reason, it was easy to convince a small number of renowned researchers, all of them active in the field of holographic and speckle interferometry, to organize a conference. To be specific, they are the people listed below as members of the scientific and local committees. At the same time, a particular circumstance, namely the retirement of Professor L. Pflug, helped to detennine the location of the meeting.

Holographic and speckle interferometry are optical techniques which use lasers to make non-contracting field view measurements at a sensitivity of the wavelength of light on optically rough (i.e. non-mirrored) surfaces. They may be used to measure static or dynamic displacements, the shape of objects, and refractive index variations of transparent media. As such, these techniques have been applied to the solution of a wide range of problems in strain and vibrational analysis, non-destructive testing (NDT), component inspection and design analysis and fluid flow visualisation. This book provides a self-contained, unified, theoretical analysis of the basic principles and associated opto-electronic techniques (for example Electronic Speckle Pattern Interferometry). In addition, a detailed discussion of experimental design and practical application to the solution of physical problems is presented. In this new edition, the authors have taken the opportunity to include a much more coherent description of more than twenty individual case studies that are representative of the main uses to which the techniques are put. The Bibliography has also been brought up to date.

With contributions by numerous experts

This book is for those who have some knowledge of optics, but little or no previous experience in interferometry. Accordingly, the carefully designed presentation helps readers easily find and assimilate the interferometric techniques they need for precision measurements. Mathematics is held to a minimum, and the topics covered are also summarized in capsule overviews at the beginning and end of each chapter. Each chapter also contains a set of worked problems that give a feel for numbers.The first five chapters present a clear tutorial review of fundamentals. Chapters six and seven discuss the types of lasers and photodetectors used in interferometry. The next eight chapters describe key applications of interferometry: measurements of length, optical testing, studies of refractive index fields, interference microscopy, holographic and speckle interferometry, interferometric sensors, interference spectroscopy, and Fourier-transform spectroscopy. The final chapter offers suggestions on choosing and setting up an interferometer.

Laser Speckle and Applications in Optics focuses on developments in laser speckle techniques, with emphasis on the experimental aspect of phenomena and on applications in optics. These applications include interference with scattered light, optical processing of images, and studies of surface roughness as well as displacements and deformations of diffuse objects. This book is comprised of 10 chapters and begins by reviewing the elements of diffraction theory and the properties of speckle in the image of a diffuse object. The discussion then turns to speckle in the near field and interferometry with diffuse light, along with experiments in which interference patterns are produced from photographically superimposed laterally shifted speckle patterns. The following chapters consider optical processing of images modulated by speckle; deformations and displacements of diffuse objects; speckle applications in astronomy; and surface roughness measurements. The final chapter looks at the use of laser speckle to study transparent objects; the average shape of diffuse surfaces; the transfer functions and aberrations of optical systems; and the movement of diffuse objects. This monograph will be of value to physicists and researchers as well as those interested in lasers and optics.

Nanotechnology, sensor and measurement industries depend on these advances in optical interferometry for accuracy and profitability.

This book presents the fundamental physics of optical interferometry as applied to biophysical, biological and medical research. Interference is at the core of many types of optical detection and is a powerful probe of cellular and tissue structure in interfererence microscopy and in optical coherence tomography. It is also the root cause of speckle and other imaging artefacts that limit range and resolution. For biosensor applications, the inherent sensitivity of interferometry enables ultrasensitive detection of molecules in biological samples for medical diagnostics. In this book, emphasis is placed on the physics of light scattering, beginning with the molecular origins of refraction as light propagates through matter, and then treating the stochastic nature of random fields that ultimately dominate optical imaging in cells and tissue. The physics of partial coherence plays a central role in the text, with a focus on coherence detection techniques that allow information to be selectively detected out of incoherent and heterogeneous backgrounds. Optical Interferometry for Biology and Medicine is divided into four sections. The first covers fundamental principles, and the next three move up successive scales, beginning with molecular interferometry (biosensors), moving to cellular interferometry (microscopy), and ending with tissue interferometry (biomedical). An outstanding feature of the book is the clear presentation of the physics, with easy derivations of the appropriate equations, while emphasizing "rules of thumb" that can be applied by experimental researchers to give semi-quantitative predictions.