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Applied Physics, Authored by Sanjay D Jain,Girish G. Sahasrabudhe and Sunil M Pande,University Press (India) Pvt. Ltd 2013,Pages : 352, Price Rs. 295.00.

“Applied Physics” by Sanjay D Jain, Girish G.Sahasrabudhe and Sunil M Pande, published by UniversityPress (India) Pvt. Ltd and distributed by Orient BlackswanPvt. Ltd. is a comprehensive book on applied physics. Thesoft bound book of 352 pages comprises eleven chaptersstarting from what is light, its interference and polarization,quantum physics, semiconductors, crystal structure, chargedparticle in electromagnetic fields, lasers, fibre optics andending with nanotechnology.

The book is useful as a core text book for the firstcouple of semesters in engineering and technology.However, having bridged the basic and applied physics inseveral areas, it would also serve as an excellent sourcebook for budding young physicists aimed at developingthe basic concepts of physics as well as bringing studentsup to date on latest technologies. The topics smoothly flowfrom one to another, integrating large areas into one. Theauthors’ use of mathematics is simple, crisp and extremelyuseful to students. The chapters start with a list of learningobjectives and are dotted with worked out examples andhave a number or numerical problems at the end of eachchapter. Boxes and charts provide information on special

topics from optical rotation, photoelectric effect, wavepackets, Fermi level and Fermi energy, intrinsic/extrinsicsemiconductors, junction potential, Bravais lattices, unitcells and voids, Miller indices, Bragg’s law, motion inelectromagnetic fields, spontaneous/induced emission,lasers, optical fibres, nanomaterial production, SPM/AFM,SEM, TEM, etc.. The book provides comparison betweensimilar methods, e.g. between SEM and TEM. It gives aflavor of a host of topics, though it does not go into thedetails of most (e.g. the reader has to be content with thedifferent acronyms of the various scanning probemicroscopes, without a sentence to explain each one ofthem).

The book begins with a chapter on light. Though itdoes not begin with Maxwell’s equations to get to the waveequation for electric and magnetic fields and theinterrelation between the two, it shows that the waveequation by an analogy with other waves. It goes todescribing standing waves, polarization and relationbetween velocity of light and permittivity and permeabilitywithout mathematical derivation but in a format whichwould be easy for the students to remember. It then goeson to describe interference in an algebraic way. It discussesvarious interference patterns in great details, though itbriefly touches on coherence. Under polarization the authordiscusses longitudinal polarization and how polarizationaffects interference. It discusses polarization due toscattering and various forms of induced-birefringence.Under quantum physics it discusses Planck’s hypothesis,photoelectric and Compton effects. After discussing theuncertainty principle it moves on to the time dependentand time independent Schrödinger equations, followed bybarrier-penetration and particle-in-a-box problem.

Complex concepts are presented in a simple way, fromenergy bands in solids based on a two-well system,forbidden-band from Bragg scattering and the concept ofBrillouin zones. Various types of problems are worked outto explain the principles further. Problems on barrierpotential, carrier concentration, etc. help understand thesemiconductor devices better. The authors move on tocrystal structure, x-ray diffraction and elaborate specificproblems using boxes. Charts on crystal structures are quiteelaborate, and also discusses the symmetries of voids andligancy.

The chapter on motion of charges in electric andmagnetic fields starts at an elementary level and movinginto electron optics, focusing in cyclotrons and Hall effect.The elementary principles of lasers include a relationbetween Einstein’s coefficients, how the lasing mediumforms a resonant cavity and discusses coherence and

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monochromaticity in the context of lasers. Charts compare,qualitatively, the various types of lasers commonly used.An elementary description of optical fibre, its operation,imperfections, signal distortions and applications areinterspersed with charts and problems to help studentsunderstand the subject better.

The book ends with a chapter on nanotechnologywhere both nanomaterials as well as devices to study andmicromanipulate them are discussed at an elementary level.Boxes describe various top-down and bottom-up methodsof generation of nanomaterials. It also lists various scanningprobe microscopes (e.g. AFM) and uses charts to comparescanning tunneling microscope (STM) and atomic forcemicroscope (AFM), and SEM vs TEM. It goes on todiscuss micromanipulation and quantum corals. Variousproperties of fullerenes, graphemes and carbon nanotubesare discussed, with applications.

The book provides a wide range of informationwithout spending too many pages on them. The bookhowever does not provide the answers to the numericalproblems, which is a damper. The reference index at theend of the book has the pages has errors in page numberfrom pages 112 to about 302 (shifted backward by onepage; i.e. page 112 item found on page 111, etc.).

In a nutshell, “Applied Physics” is a great book, notjust for engineering students, but also for advanced thirdyear pure physics students. A casual reader would find itdifficult to put down the book as it caters to so manydifferent areas that the reader would find at least one areato his/her interest.

Barun Kumar ChatterjeeSenior Professor, Department of Physics,

Bose Institute, 93/1 A. P. C. Road,Kolkata-700009