本书是“索茉菲理论物理教程”的第四卷，主题是光学。“索末菲理论物理教程”包括力学、变形介质力学、电动力学、光学、热力学与统计物理、物理学中的偏微分方程六卷，是作者给Muenchen大学和理工学院物理专业大三、大四学生讲课的手稿整理而成的。索末菲老师教书是物理数学融合在一起的，关键是他还能实验物理和理论物理一起教。索末菲的教学应该是深刻地影响到了不少人。他的教学非同于一般的教书匠，其教科书里融入了自己的理解还有自己对学术的贡献。索末菲对物理学的贡献是多方面的，即便面对爱因斯坦这样的人物，也未必逊色多少。

Preface
Translator's Note
INTRODUCTION
1.Geometrical, Physical, and Physiological Optics.Historical Chart
CHAPTER I.REFLECTION AND REFRACTION OF LIGHT
2.Review of Electrodynamics.Basic Principles of Ideal and Natural Light
3.Fresnel's Formulae.Transitions from Rarer to Denser Media
A.Electric Vector Perpendicular to Plane of Incidence
B.Magnetic Vector Perpendicular to Plane of Incidence
C.Artificial Suppression of Reflection for Perpendicular Incidence
4.Graphical Discussion of Fresnel's Formulae.Brewster's Law
A.Plane of Polarization Parallel to Plane of Incidence
B.Plane of Polarization Perpendicular to Plane of Incidence
C.Practical Production of Polarized Light
D.Brewster's Law from the Point of View of Electron Theory
E.Energy Considerations.Reflecting Power r and Transmissivity d
5.Total Reflection
A.Discussion of Fresnel's Formulae
B.Light Penetrating into the Rarer Medium
C.The Tunnel Effect of Wave Mechanics
D.Production of Elliptically and Circularly Polarized Light
6.Metallic Reflection
A.Fresnel's Formulae
B.Experiments by Hagen and Rubens
C.Some Remarks on the Color of Metals, Glasses, and Pigments
7.Colors of Thin Membranes and Thick Plates
A.The General Case
B.The Oil Spot on Wet Asphalt
C.Coated (Non-Reflecting) Lenses
D.Soap Bubbles and Newton's Rings
E.Comparison of Methods: Summation or Boundary-Value Treatment
F.The Lummer-Gehrke Plate (1902)
G.The Interferometer of Perot and Fabry (About 1900)
8.Standing Light Waves
A.Monochromatic, Linearly Polarized Light Which Is Incident Perpendicu larly upon a Metal Surface
B.Obliquely Incident Light
C.Lippmann's Color Photography
CHAPTER II.OPTICS OF MOVING MEDIA AND SOURCES.ASTRONOMICAL TOPICS
9.Measurement of the Velocity of Light
10.Aberration and Parallax
11.The Doppler Effect
12.Fresnel's Coefficient of Drag and Fizeau's Experiment
13.Reflection by a Moving Mirror
14.The Michelson Experiment
15.The Experiments of Harress, Sagnac, and Michelson-Gale
16.The Quantum Theory of Light
CHAPTER III.THEORY OF DISPERSION
17.Ultraviolet Resonance Oscillations of the Electrons
18.Infrared Resonance Oscillations of the Ions in Addition to Ultraviolet
Electron Resonance Oscillations
19.Anomalous Dispersion
20.Magnetic Rotation of the Plane of Polarization
21.The Normal Zeeman Effect and Some Remarks on the Anomalous Zeeman
22.Phase Velocity, Signal Velocity, Group Velocity
A.Fourier Representation of a Bounded Wave Train
B.Propagation of the Wave Front in a Dispersive Medium
C.The Precursors
D.The Signal in its Final Steady State
E.Group Velocity and Energy Transport
23.The Wave Mechanical Theory of Dispersion
A.Comparison of the Older Dispersion Formula with the Wave Mechanical Formula
CHAPTER IV.CRYSTAL OPTICS
24.Fresnel's Ellipsoid, Index Ellipsoid, Principal Dielectric Axes
25.The Structure of the Plane Wave and Its Polarization
26.Dual Relations, Ray Surface and Normal Surface, Optic Axes
A.Discussion of the Ray Surface
B.The Optic Axes
27.The Problem of Double Refraction
A.Double Refraction According to Huygens' Principle
B.The Law of Refraction as a Boundary Value Problem
C.The Amplitudes of Reflected and Refracted Rays
28.The Optical Symmetry of Crystals
29.Optically Active Crystals and Fluids
A.The Gyration Vector of Solenoidal Crystal Structures
B.The Rotation of the Plane of Polarization in Quartz
C.Optically Active Fluids
30.Nicol's Prism, Quarter Wave Plate, Tourmaline Tongs, and Dichroism
A.Nicol's Prism
B.The Quarter Wave Plate and the Babinet Compensator
C.Tourmaline and the Polarization Filter
31.Interference Phenomena due to Crystal Plates in Parallel and in Converging Polarized Light
A.Parallel Light
B.Converging Light
CHAPTER V.THE THEOR