This book presents the first comprehensive, interdisciplinary review of the rapidly developing field of air lasing. In most applications of lasers, such as cutting and engraving, the laser source is brought to the point of service where the laser beam is needed to perform its function. However, in some important applications such as remote atmospheric sensing, placing the laser at a convenient location is not an option. Current sensing schemes rely on the detection of weak backscattering of ground-based, forward-propagating optical probes, and possess limited sensitivity. The concept of air lasing (or atmospheric lasing) relies on the idea that the constituents of the air itself can be used as an active laser medium, creating a backward-propagating, impulsive, laser-like radiation emanating from a remote location in the atmosphere. This book provides important insights into the current state of development of air lasing and its applications.

During the last few years, nanomaterials have attracted the attention of the scientific community due to their extraordinary and unique properties. Their small size, and the distinctive features that come with it, makes these materials very attractive for use in different important fields like biomedicine, sensors, or catalysis. One of the most important properties of these materials is their interaction with light and is called surface plasmon resonance. It is a phenomenon that happens on the surface of certain nanomaterials that confers them with unique properties. This remarkable characteristic has opened a whole new field called nanoplasmonics that is acquiring more and more importance among the scientific community. This book aims to review the state of the art in this new field and provide the reader with a wide overview of the new nanomaterials available and their current and future applications.

Optical amplifiers are indispensable in long-haul communication systems operating in a relatively broad range of electromagnetic spectra. Various forms of optical amplifiers and their advancements have been extensively discussed in the literature emphasizing the relative merits and demerits of different types of configurations and/or designs and also usefulness in specific applications. The book - Optical Amplifiers: A Few Different Dimensions - aims at reporting developments in these devices in the recent years. The contributed chapters in this book encompass both theoretical and experimental results covering various aspects in the relevant research directions. This somehow makes the volume useful to both experts and novice researchers. Finally, the expectation remains of the contents to be of some merit for the R

Quantum Mechanics II: Advanced Topics offers a comprehensive exploration of the state-of-the-art in various advanced topics of current research interest. A follow-up to the authors’ introductory book Quantum Mechanics I: The Fundamentals, this book expounds basic principles, theoretical treatment, case studies, worked-out examples and applications of advanced topics including quantum technologies. A thoroughly revised and updated this unique volume presents an in-depth and up-to-date progress on the growing topics including latest achievements on quantum technology. In the second edition six new chapters are included and the other ten chapters are extensively revised. Features Covers classical and quantum field theories, path integral formalism and supersymmetric quantum mechanics. Highlights coherent and squeezed states, Berry’s phase, Aharonov—Bohm effect and Wigner function. Explores salient features of quantum entanglement and quantum cryptography. Presents basic concepts of quantum computers and the features of no-cloning theorem and quantum cloning machines. Describes the theory and techniques of quantum tomography, quantum simulation and quantum error correction. Introduces other novel topics including quantum versions of theory of gravity, cosmology, Zeno effect, teleportation, games, chaos and steering. Outlines the quantum technologies of ghost imaging, detection of weak amplitudes and displacements, lithography, metrology, teleportation of optical images, sensors, batteries and internet. Contains several worked-out problems and exercises in each chapter. Quantum Mechanics II: Advanced Topics addresses various currently emerging exciting topics of quantum mechanics. It emphasizes the fundamentals behind the latest cutting-edge developments to help explain the motivation for deeper exploration. The book is a valuable resource for graduate students in physics and engineering wishing to pursue research in quantum mechanics.

This book serves as a comprehensive, up-to-date reference about this cutting-edge laser technology and its many new and interesting developments. Various aspects and trends of Raman fiber lasers are described in detail by experts in their fields. Raman fiber lasers have progressed quickly in the past decade, and have emerged as a versatile laser technology for generating high power light sources covering a spectral range from visible to mid-infrared. The technology is already being applied in the fields of telecommunication, astronomy, cold atom physics, laser spectroscopy, environmental sensing, and laser medicine. This book covers various topics relating to Raman fiber laser research, including power scaling, cladding and diode pumping, cascade Raman shifting, single frequency operation and power amplification, mid-infrared laser generation, specialty optical fibers, and random distributed feedback Raman fiber lasers. The book will appeal to scientists, students, and technicians seeking to understand the recent developments and future trends of this promising and multifaceted technology.

This handbook provides comprehensive knowledge on device and system technologies for seamlessly integrated networks of various types of transmission media such as optical fibers and millimeter and THz waves to offer super high-speed data link service everywhere. The seamless integration of the knowledge of radio and optical technologies is needed to construct wired and wireless seamless networks. High-frequency bands such as millimeter-wave and THz-wave bands where super wideband spectra are available can offer high-speed data transmission and high-resolution sensing. However, the expected coverage is limited due to large wave propagation loss. Thus, convergence of radio and optical links is indispensable to construct worldwide networks. The radio and optical technologies share the same physics and are closely related to each other but have been developed independently. Therefore, there is a big gap between these two fields. Bridging the two fields, this handbook is also intended as a common platform to design integrated networks consisting of wireless and wired links. Full coverage of wireless and wired convergence fields ranging from basics of device and transmission media to applications allows the reader to efficiently access all the important references in this single handbook. Further, it also showcases state-of-the-art technology and cases of its use.

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue Hollow core optical fibers that was published in Fibers