[.ca] Modern Optics (ISBN 0471605387)

good for reference:
This book has a great amount of pictures, figures, diagrams to give readers a good physical insight in Optics. But sometimes it gives too much not-so-related information (historical facts, analogies) to keep readers in focus. A good book if you already have some basic idea in Optics.

Best available undergraduate optics text:
This book is up-to date and broad in coverage. It has good treatments of paraxial matrix optics, fourier transform optics (Fresnel-Kirchoff formulation), multiple thin films, and fiber optics, as well as other topics. Useful as a text for an undergraduate optics course or as a reference for someone who is familiar with optics on the level of introductory university physics. Requires background in Fourier transforms, electromagnetism up to Maxwell's equations, and matrix algebra for the relevant topics. End-of chapter problems are reasonable.