Optics in Instruments

Preface

Optical components-based instruments play a fundamental role in the scientific and technological advances of our time. We need to consider only a few examples, ranging from the most ordinary to the most complex. All of us have used a camera or a camcorder. The reading of bar codes by optical detection, with the aid of lasers, is commonplace in shops. Likewise, we use optical writing and reading on compact disks. Measurements and controls in industry are always carried out through spectroscopic methods. The telescope is essential in the observation of celestial bodies, and has allowed us to verify hypotheses related to our solar system. The instruments recently sent into space allow us to view our universe at distances that seemed impossible to achieve a few decades ago. The microscope has triggered an equally great revolution in biology and medicine, opening up vast new horizons in these fields, in diagnosis as well as treatment. The camera allowed for far more objective observation of the world than with the naked eye. These brief considerations allow us to understand the immensely important role played by optics in instruments for our view and our current conception of the world. These instruments are absolutely indispensable for a modern and objective view of reality.

In the current work, the basics necessary for the understanding of optics-based instruments and systems are provided, along with some concrete examples of realization and development. The objective is to ...