Photonics Essentials is a refreshingly different Photonics Textbook. It is clearly aimed at an undergraduate audience, although specialist readers may also find it useful, either to brush up on a topic or to have it explained in a clear, conceptual way, and from a different angle. This approach does not aim to replace conventional textbooks, but rather complements them with experimentally-motivated examples. Arguments are usually introduced via clearly understandable models and examples, and the light tone makes the subject more accessible. This, however, does not make the book superficial, the author instead focusses on the most relevant aspects and then backs them up with mathematical rigour.
Another difference to existing literature is that it provides interesting insights into industral reality, and sometimes quotes price as one of the parameters to enter the engineering equation. This provides a worthwhile reality-check, yet also some built-in obsolence. The book encourages the student to develop new thinking and not to be put off by accepted "impossibilities", e.g in the discussion on GaN lasers. The characterisation section provides a useful background on the electrical properties of photonic devices, information that is not necessarily provided in photonics textbooks. The same applies to the explanation of the operation principle and practical use of lock-in amplifiers. Furthermore, showing "real" experimental measurement curves provides useful reference material for laboratory experiments.
Overall, the book is clearly aimed at undergraduate students and engineers interested in understanding fundamental principles rather than scientists involved in cutting-edge research. With this scope in mind, it serves a worthwhile function and has identified a gap in the existing market that it fills with excellence