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Reviewer: Claudio Delrieux

Holography is one of those few remarkable technological breakthroughs that continues to elicit excitement and fascination in those who encounter it, while at the same time being readily accessible in its basic forms even to those with little formal scientific training. On the other hand, both the theoretic fundamentals and the current technological applications of holography are only available in specific publications, which are usually dry and difficult to understand for the nonspecialist. This book covers exactly that missing space in the literature, bringing a simple but rigorous approach to the subject to an audience with a broad range of backgrounds. Several aspects make this book successful. Among them is the fact that the theoretical basis is presented in a clear and systematic way, making it easy to follow but providing a deep understanding of the concepts. The contents are organized in 21 small, self-contained chapters. The introductory chapters cover the fundamentals of holography and perception, light as a wave phenomenon, wave phase, beam interference, and diffraction. Once these fundamental principles are understood, the authors proceed to two different but complementary presentations of holography: ideal "platonic" holography and mathematical ray-tracing holography. Closer to practical realization are the inline (Gabor) and off-axis (Leight and Upatnieks) approaches to holography, the first historical examples of actual hologram production. Several complementary chapters include ancillary material, such as noncoherent illumination of holograms, perfect phase conjugate illumination, and full-aperture transfer holography. The most popular holograms are the so-called white light transmission (or rainbow) holograms, which are described in two chapters, together with their inherent limitations and other practical issues. The next three chapters include inline reflection, off-axis reflection, and edge-lit holography, respectively, which are alternative technological approaches to practical hologram production. The final chapters are the closest to the technological, computer science edge, and include computational display holography, holographic stereograms, and holographic television. These chapters are essential to understanding the challenges that need to be overcome if holography will undergo the same transition from chemical to digital that commercial and consumer photography completed in the last few years. An outstanding feature of this book that deserves a paragraph of its own is the quality of the illustrations, which give clear and consistent support to the mathematical explanations, and which are extremely helpful in understanding some of the underlying concepts. The illustrations, and the overall graphic design of the book, are remarkably crisp. In short, this text successfully covers its subject, from theoretical holography, traditional technology, and widespread rainbow holograms, to the latest, cutting-edge technological developments of holographic television and holographic computer displays. It does so with an easy-to-follow style, approachable mathematics, and helpful illustrations. This makes the book a valuable resource for readers from a variety of backgrounds, including students and researchers in optics, optoelectronics, computer science, and engineering. Online Computing Reviews Service