This tutorial introduces the theory and applications of MTF, used to specify the image quality achieved by an imaging system. It covers basic linear systems theory and the relationship between impulse response, resolution, MTF, OTF, PTF, and CTF. Practical measurement and testing issues are discussed.

Topics covered by this text include imaging, radiometry, source detectors and lasers, with a special emphasis on flux-transfer issues. The author takes a first-order approach so that students and professionals can quickly make the back-of-envelope calculations needed for initial setup of optical apparatus. The target is to help readers solve the practical problems frequently encountered by those new to the field of electro-optics. The text aims to enable readers to answer such questions as: where is the image, how big is it, how much light gets to the detectors, and how small an object is it possible to see?

This practical guide is a compendium of frequently asked questions (FAQs). The answers are provided in graphs, equations, or diagrams. An engineering approach is taken, the equations may be approximations, but the region of applicability is clearly stated. Facts, rules-of-thumb, and back-of-the-envelope equations are highlighted. This easy-to-read reference covers optical systems, detectors, cameras (visible and infrared), sampling effects, Moiré patterns, system performance, resolution, system testing, lasers and lidar, fiber optics, and data analysis.

This engineering tool provides over 200 time and cost saving rules of thumb--short cuts, tricks, and methods that optical communications veterans have developed through long years of trial and error. * DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) and SONET (Synchronous Optical NETwork) rules * Information Transmission, fiber optics, and systems rules

Praise for the First Edition "Now a new laboratory bible for optics researchers has joined the list: it is Phil Hobbs's Building Electro-Optical Systems: Making It All Work." —Tony Siegman, Optics & Photonics News Building a modern electro-optical instrument may be the most interdisciplinary job in all of engineering. Be it a DVD player or a laboratory one-off, it involves physics, electrical engineering, optical engineering, and computer science interacting in complex ways. This book will help all kinds of technical people sort through the complexity and build electro-optical systems that just work, with maximum insight and minimum trial and error. Written in an engaging and conversational style, this Second Edition has been updated and expanded over the previous edition to reflect technical advances and a great many conversations with working designers. Key features of this new edition include: Expanded coverage of detectors, lasers, photon budgets, signal processing scheme planning, and front ends Coverage of everything from basic theory and measurement principles to design debugging and integration of optical and electronic systems Supplementary material is available on an ftp site, including an additional chapter on thermal Control and Chapter problems highly relevant to real-world design Extensive coverage of high performance optical detection and laser noise cancellation Each chapter is full of useful lore from the author's years of experience building advanced instruments. For more background, an appendix lists 100 good books in all relevant areas, introductory as well as advanced. Building Electro-Optical Systems: Making It All Work, Second Edition is essential reading for researchers, students, and professionals who have systems to build.

Presents practical electro-optical applications in the context of the fundamental principles of communication theory, thermodynamics, information theory and propagation theory. Combining systems issues with fundamentals of communications, this is an essential reference for all practising engineers and academic researchers in optical engineering.