This is the first comprehensive treatment of the interaction of femtosecond laser pulses with solids at nonrelativistic intensity. It connects phenomena from the subtle atomic motion on the nanoscale to the generation of extreme pressure and temperature in the interaction zone confined inside a solid. The femtosecond laser-matter interaction has already found numerous applications in industry, medicine, and materials science. However, there is no consensus on the interpretation of related phenomena. With mathematics kept to a minimum, this is a highly engaging and readable treatment for students and researchers in science and engineering. The book avoids complex mathematical formulae, and hence the content is accessible to nontechnical readers. Useful summaries after each chapter provide compressed information for quick estimates of major parameters in planned or performed experiments. The book connects the basic physics of femtosecond laser-solid interactions to a broad range of applications. Throught the text, basic assumptions are derived from the first principles, and new results and ideas are presented. From such analyses, a qualitative and predictive framework for the field emerges, the impact of which on applications is also discussed.

This is the first comprehensive treatment of the interaction of femtosecond laser pulses with solids at nonrelativistic intensity. It connects phenomena from the subtle atomic motion on the nanoscale to the generation of extreme pressure and temperature in the interaction zone confined inside a solid. The femtosecond laser-matter interaction has al

This book represents the first comprehensive treatment of the subject, covering the theoretical principles, present experimental status and important applications of short-pulse laser-matter interactions.Femtosecond lasers have undergone dramatic technological advances over the last fifteen years, generating a whole host of new research activities under the theme of “ultrafast science”. The focused light from these devices is so intense that ordinary matter is torn apart within a few laser cycles. This book takes a close-up look at the exotic physical phenomena which arise as a result of this new form of “light-matter” interaction, covering a diverse set of topics including multiphoton ionization, rapid heatwaves, fast particle generation and relativistic self-channeling. These processes are central to a number of exciting new applications in other fields, such as microholography, optical particle accelerators and photonuclear physics.Repository for numerical models described in Chapter 6 can be found at www.fz-juelich.de/zam/cams/plasma/SPLIM/./a

Femtosecond optics involves the study of ultra-short pulses of light. Understanding the behaviour of these light pulses makes it possible to develop ultra-fast lasers with a wide range of applications in such areas as medical imaging, chemical analysis and micro-machining. Written by two leading experts in the field, this book reviews the theory of the interaction of femtosecond light pulses with matter, femtosecond lasers and laser systems, and the principles of femtosecond coherent spectroscopy of impurity amorphous media. - reviews the theory of the interaction of femtosecond light pulses with matter - Discusses femtosecond lasers and laser systems - Considers the principles of femtosecond coherent spectroscopy of impurity amorphous media

This volume offers theoretical investigations of atoms and molecules interacting with pulsed or continuous wave lasers. Theoretical background is included, and the text incorporates several exercises. Additional calculations are performed in the appendices.

This book describes the ultra-short laser–matter interactions from the subtle atomic motion to the generation of extreme pressures inside the bulk of a transparent crystal. It is the successor to Femtosecond Laser–Matter Interactions: Theory, Experiment and Applications (2011). Explanation and experimental verification of the exceptional technique for the phase transformations under high pressure are in the core of the book. The novel phase formation occurs along the unique solid-plasmasolid transformation path: the memory of the initial state is lost after conversion to plasma. New phase forms from chaos during the cooling to the ambient. The pressure-affected material remains detained inside a pristine crystal at the laboratory tabletop. Unique super-dense aluminium and new phases of silicon were created by the confined micro-explosions. The text also describes the recent studies that used the quasi-non-diffracting Bessel beams. The applications comprise the new high-pressure material formation and micromachining. The book is an appealing source for readers interested in the cutting-edge research exploring extreme conditions and creating nanostructures at the laboratory tabletop.

Laser ablation describes the interaction of intense optical fields with matter, in which atoms are selectively driven off by thermal or nonthermal mechanisms. The field of laser ablation physics is advancing so rapidly that its principal results are seen only in specialized journals and conferences. This is the first book that combines the most recent results in this rapidly advancing field with authoritative treatment of laser ablation and its applications, including the physics of high-power laser-matter interaction. Many practical applications exist, ranging from inertial confinement fusion to propulsion of aerostats for pollution monitoring to laser ignition of hypersonic engines to laser cleaning nanoscale contaminants in high-volume computer hard drive manufacture to direct observation of the electronic or dissociative states in atoms and molecules, to studying the properties of materials during 200kbar shocks developed in 200fs. Selecting topics which are representative of such a broad field is difficult. Laser Ablation and its Applications emphasizes the wide range of these topics rather than - as is so often the case in advanced science – focusing on one specialty or discipline. The book is divided into four sections: theory and modeling, ultrafast interactions, material processing and laser-matter interaction in novel regimes. The latter range from MALDI to ICF, SNOM’s and femtosecond nanosurgery to laser space propulsion. The book arose from the SPIE series of High Power Laser Ablation Symposia which began in 1998. It is intended for a graduate course in laser interactions with plasmas and materials, but it should be accessible to anyone with a graduate degree in physics or engineering. It is also intended as a major reference work to familiarize scientists just entering the field with laser ablation and its applications.