Nanophotonics , Paras N. Prasad Wiley, Hoboken, NJ, 2004. $84.95 (415 pp.). ISBN 0-471-64988-0
Paras Prasad has once again produced an invaluable reference source related to photonics. Nanophotonics maintains the tradition of his earlier books, Introduction to Biophotonics (Wiley, 2003) and Introduction to Nonlinear Optical Effects in Molecules and Polymers (Wiley, 1991). Like Prasad’s previous texts, Nanophotonics is aimed at advanced undergraduates and graduates studying chemistry, physics, molecular biology, and biochemistry, as well as various engineering disciplines.
I, as have many chemistry and physics faculty members, have used Prasad’s books as key references for graduate courses, including the new nanotechnology graduate course “Frontiers in Nanotechnology” at the University of Washington in Seattle. All of the Prasad texts are excellent in introducing key concepts and mathematical derivations of key equations. In particular, Prasad’s treatment of basic concepts such as electrons and photons is comprehensible and attractive to students. The crucial importance of nanoscopic confinement of both electrons and photons is emphasized early in Nanophotonics. The relevance of such confinement to both the real (index of refraction phenomena) and imaginary (absorption and emission phenomena) components of linear and nonlinear optical susceptibilities quickly becomes apparent to various practical applications of photonics.
As always, Prasad does an excellent job of explaining excited-state dynamics, the interplay of the radiation field, and material-dependent relaxation processes. He also has an exceptional knowledge of both inorganic and organic materials, and Nanophotonics provides a balanced coverage of all materials classes. Moreover, his texts have always been timely: Nanophotonics is no exception. Topics of the greatest current interest, ranging from photonic bandgap materials to sensors based on surface plasmon resonance, are well covered. Prasad also has a very broad understanding of specific materials topics, such as dendrimers, phase-separating block copolymers, micelles, inorganic nanocomposites, and metal nanoparticles. The subjects are treated at a greater depth and with greater insight than is commonly found in a reference text. Also, the final chapter gives a surprisingly detailed analysis of marketplace applications of nanophotonics. In addition to being an excellent educational resource, the book will be an excellent reference text for industrial scientists.
Nanophotonics has 14 chapters with such titles as Near-Field Interactions and Microscopy, Plasmonics, Nanostructured Molecular Architectures, and Nanophotonics for Biotechnology and Nanomedicine. The titles are self-explanatory and illustrate the scope of the text. Although the subjects are at times amazingly disparate, Prasad does an excellent job of presenting them as a unified body of knowledge. His texts characteristically have an excellent reference list at the end of each chapter, and Nanophotonics maintains that tradition. The reader will not only be seduced into considering new topics in the field but will also be encouraged by the references to explore those topics in great depth. In summary, Nanophotonics is an indispensable reference text for anyone endeavoring to learn or teach photonics, particularly as it relates to materials with nanoscopic order.
