"Few formulas are so absolute as not to bend before the blast of extraordinary circumstances."

Benjamin Nathan Cardozo

The evolution of the electro-optical (EO) sciences parallels, and feeds from, developments in a number of somewhat unrelated fields, including astronomy, satellite and remote sensing technology, materials science, electronics, optical communications, military research, and many others. The common thread of all of this effort, which really came into focus in the 1950s, is that scientists and engineers have been able to combine highly successful electronic technologies with the more ancient concepts and methods of optics and electromagnetic wave propagation. The merging of these fields has provided an unprecedented capability for instruments to "see" targets and communicate with them in a wide range of wavelengths for the benefit of security systems, science, defense, and (more recently) consumers. Major departments at universities are now devoted to producing new graduates with specialties in this field. There is no end in sight for the advancement of these technologies, especially with the continued development of electronics and computing as increasingly integral parts of EO instrumentation.

One of the disturbing trends in this technology is the constant narrowing of the role of engineers. As the technology matures, it becomes more difficult for anyone working in an area of the EO discipline to understand all that is being done in the related sciences and engineering. This book has been assembled to make a first, small step to expose anyone working in EO to a wide range of critical topics...