This book discusses many advances in optical physics and is intended mainly for experimentalists. The interaction of electromagnetic radiation with free atoms is introduced using classical or semi-classical calculations wherever possible. Topics discussed include the spontaneous emission of radiation, and atomic beam magnetic resonance experiments.

Principles of Laser Spectroscopy and Quantum Optics is an essential textbook for graduate students studying the interaction of optical fields with atoms. It also serves as an ideal reference text for researchers working in the fields of laser spectroscopy and quantum optics. The book provides a rigorous introduction to the prototypical problems of radiation fields interacting with two- and three-level atomic systems. It examines the interaction of radiation with both atomic vapors and condensed matter systems, the density matrix and the Bloch vector, and applications involving linear absorption and saturation spectroscopy. Other topics include hole burning, dark states, slow light, and coherent transient spectroscopy, as well as atom optics and atom interferometry. In the second half of the text, the authors consider applications in which the radiation field is quantized. Topics include spontaneous decay, optical pumping, sub-Doppler laser cooling, the Heisenberg equations of motion for atomic and field operators, and light scattering by atoms in both weak and strong external fields. The concluding chapter offers methods for creating entangled and spin-squeezed states of matter. Instructors can create a one-semester course based on this book by combining the introductory chapters with a selection of the more advanced material. A solutions manual is available to teachers. Rigorous introduction to the interaction of optical fields with atoms Applications include linear and nonlinear spectroscopy, dark states, and slow light Extensive chapter on atom optics and atom interferometry Conclusion explores entangled and spin-squeezed states of matter Solutions manual (available only to teachers)

A wide-ranging review of modern techniques in atomic and molecular spectroscopy. A brief description of atomic and molecular structure is followed by the relevant energy structure expressions. A discussion of radiative properties and the origin of spectra leads into coverage of X-ray and photoelectron spectroscopy, optical spectroscopy, and radiofrequency and microwave techniques. The treatment of laser spectroscopy investigates various tunable sources and a wide range of techniques characterized by high sensitivity and high resolution. Throughout this book, the relation between fundamental and applied aspects is shown, in particular by descriptions of applications to chemical analysis, photochemistry, surface characterisation, environmental and medical diagnostics, remote sensing and astrophysics.

This text treats laser light as a universal tool to control matter at the atomic and molecular level, one of the most exciting applications of lasers. Lasers can heat matter, cool atoms to ultra-low temperatures where they show quantum collective behaviour, and can act selectively on specific atoms and molecules for their detection and separation.

Bringing together scattered literature from a range of sources, Laser Spectroscopy and ItsApplications clearly elucidates the tools and concepts of this dynamic area, and providesextensive bibliographies for further study.Distinguished experts in their respective fields discuss resonance photoionization, laser absorption,laser-induced breakdown, photodissociation, Raman scattering, remote sensing,and laser-induced fluorescence. The book also incorporates an overview of the semiclassicaltheory of atomic and molecular spectra.Combining background at an intermediate level with an in-depth discussion of specifictechniques, Laser Spectroscopy and Its Applications is essential reading for laser and opticalscientists and engineers; analytical chemists; health physicists; researchers in optical,chemical, pharmaceutical, and metallurgical industries. It will also prove useful for upperlevelundergraduate and graduate students of laser spectroscopy and its applications, andin-house seminars and short courses offered by firms and professional societies.

The embryonic development of femtoscience stems from advances made in the generation of ultrashort laser pulses. Beginning with mode-locking of glass lasers in the 1960s, the development of dye lasers brought the pulse width down from picoseconds to femtoseconds. The breakthrough in solid state laser pulse generation provided the current reliable table-top laser systems capable of average power of about 1 watt, and peak power density of easily watts per square centimeter, with pulse widths in the range of four to eight femtoseconds. Pulses with peak power density reaching watts per square centimeter have been achieved in laboratory settings and, more recently, pulses of sub-femtosecond duration have been successfully generated. As concepts and methodologies have evolved over the past two decades, the realm of ultrafast science has become vast and exciting and has impacted many areas of chemistry, biology and physics, and other fields such as materials science, electrical engineering, and optical communication. In molecular science the explosive growth of this research is for fundamental reasons. In femtochemistry and femtobiology chemical bonds form and break on the femtosecond time scale, and on this scale of time we can freeze the transition states at configurations never before seen. Even for n- reactive physical changes one is observing the most elementary of molecular processes. On a time scale shorter than the vibrational and rotational periods the ensemble behaves coherently as a single-molecule trajectory.

A thorough introduction to the interaction of atoms with optical and magnetic fields; for graduate students and researchers.