This book is intended to provide a concise and accessible introduction to microstructured
polymer optical fibres (mPOF). Authors of books in any technical
field need to make decisions about just how technical the explanations
should be, and we have taken the view that this book should be accessible
not only to academics but also, for example, to engineers who may wonder if
mPOF have anything to offer for their applications, or interested undergraduate
students. We have therefore aimed at conveying a correct conceptual
understanding of the ideas in the clearest possible way. Even within the theoretical
sections of the book we have tried to avoid using equations as the
explanation of first resort. Indeed, often the same idea is explained in multiple
ways, first at a very conceptual level and then later in the book in more
detail. However, correctness is never sacrificed to achieve simplicity. Fuller
and more technical explanations can be found in the referenced scientific literature,
and or in one of the several other books available in the general area
of microstructured fibres.