This book aims to overcome the traditional ray paradigm and provide an analytical paradigm for Nonimaging Optics based on Field Theory. As a second objective, the authors address the connections between this Field Theory of Nonimaging Optics and other radiative transfer theories.The book introduces the Field Theory of Nonimaging Optics as a new analytical paradigm, not statistical, to analyze problems in the frame of nonimaging geometrical optics, with a formulation based on field ...

This book provides a comprehensive look at the science, methods, designs, and limitations of nonimaging optics. It begins with an in-depth discussion on thermodynamically efficient optical designs and how they improve the performance and cost effectiveness of solar concentrating and illumination systems. It then moves into limits to concentration, imaging devices and their limitations, and the theory of furnaces and its applications to optical design. Numerous design methods are discussed ...