[.ca] Nonlinear Optics (ISBN 0121216829)

Not perfect, but nonetheless the best available:
The field of nonlinear optics is actually much more general in scope than the name implies, and it finds large intersection with quantum mechanics, atomic physics and physical chemistry. It has applications in virtually all physical and life sciences. It's thus surprising that for such a useful and interesting subject, there would be such a shortage of good books! Fortunately, this book is excellent, and covers the subject thoroughly in both theory and application. An interesting feature of the book is that it covers the basic theory first from a classical perspective (i.e. nonlinear dipole polarization) and then rederives the basic results from semiclassical quantum theory. While the dielectric approach alone is adequate for solving problems (in fact, the quantum approach is useless in practice) the quantum background is fascinating to read and greatly helps in developing an intuitive picture of the physical mechanisms behind nonlinear processes. Boyd makes the nice choice of using Gaussian units, which is foreign to anybody but theoretical physics snobs but which eliminates a lot of useless notational complexity. Unfortunately, the book is sometimes terse and occasionally presents results without sufficient derivation, especially for advanced concepts and applications. However, when it comes to the foundational elements of nonlinear optics, the book is always thorough and the concepts well explained. Boyd clearly has a very deep understanding of the subject, and this shows in his writing. If you need to buy one book on nonlinear optics, this should probably be it. You might be temped to buy Shen or Bloembergen since they were such primary contributors to the field, but you will probably be disappointed in the quality of their exposition and confused by the notation.

The better book for nonlinear optics:
This book is certainly the better one for people who wants to learn nonlinear optics from the beginning. This book is using a very "physical" approach to perform a complete overview of nonlinear processes. It is really a must for all those who wants to go deeper in the world of nonlinear optical effects.

Good but could be better!:
Actually this is the best introductory text for the newcomer to the exciting field of Nonlinear Optics.The text is clear and undoubtely the author readily explains very complicated Phenomena in a succinct yet understable way.Very comprehensive coverage too stretching from classically explainable effects to quantum derivations of Nonlinear interaction coefficients.The only fault is sometimes the introduction of formulas "coming from the sky" which is a very deprecable fact.On the whole a good book but could be better!

A must:
When I came to the field of nonlinear optics, the book provides me a clear, easy-understanding picture to the field so that I believe any of you can get into the field by use of the book. If you are looking for your first book to nonlinear optics, don't waste your time, it is. Even through my life in the research, I depended on it most of the time. It's too great. So...

A clear understanding of nonlinear optics:
This is a great book to understand the nonlinear processes of frequency conversion of light. The derivation of the formulas are pretty clear. My only complaint is that it didn't discuss periodically poled crystals but I haven't found any books that covers it. Fortunally I was able to understand the material in Boyd's book to figure out how these crystals do frequency conversion on my own.