The Frequency-Resolved Optical-Gating (FROG) technique has revolutionized our ability to measure and understand ultrashort laser pulses. This book contains everything you need to know to measure even the shortest, weakest, or most complex ultrashort laser pulses. Whether you're an undergrad or an advanced researcher, you'll find easy-to-understand descriptions of all the key ideas behind all the FROG techniques, all the practical details of pulse measurement, and many new directions of research. This book is not like any other scientific book. It is a lively discussion of the basic concepts. It is an advanced treatment of research-level issues.

This is the second edition of this advanced textbook written for scientists who require further training in femtosecond science. Four years after pub- cation of the ?rst edition, femtosecond science has overcome new challenges and new application ?elds have become mature. It is necessary to take into account these new developments. Two main topics merged during this period that support important scienti?c activities: attosecond pulses are now gen- ated in the X-UV spectral domain, and coherent control of chemical events is now possible by tailoring the shape of femtosecond pulses. To update this advanced textbook, it was necessary to introduce these ?elds; two new ch- ters are in this second edition: “Coherent Control in Atoms, Molecules, and Solids”(Chap.11)and“AttosecondPulses”(Chap.12)withwell-documented references. Some changes, addenda, and new references are introduced in the ?rst edition’s ten original chapters to take into account new developments and updatethisadvancedtextbookwhichistheresultofascienti?cadventurethat started in 1991. At that time, the French Ministry of Education decided that, in view of the growing importance of ultrashort laser pulses for the national scienti?c community, a Femtosecond Centre should be created in France and devoted to the further education of scientists who use femtosecond pulses as a research tool and who are not specialists in lasers or even in optics.

Ultrashort Laser Pulse Phenomena, Second Edition serves as an introduction to the phenomena of ultra short laser pulses and describes how this technology can be used to examine problems in areas such as electromagnetism, optics, and quantum mechanics. Ultrashort Laser Pulse Phenomena combines theoretical backgrounds and experimental techniques and will serve as a manual on designing and constructing femtosecond ("faster than electronics") systems or experiments from scratch. Beyond the simple optical system, the various sources of ultrashort pulses are presented, again with emphasis on the basic concepts and how they apply to the design of particular sources (dye lasers, solid state lasers, semiconductor lasers, fiber lasers, and sources based on frequency conversion). - Provides an easy to follow guide through "faster than electronics" probing and detection methods - THE manual on designing and constructing femtosecond systems and experiments - Discusses essential technology for applications in micro-machining, femtochemistry, and medical imaging

Fundamentals and Basic Optical Instruments includes thirteen chapters providing an introductory guide to the basics of optical engineering, instrumentation, and design. Topics include basic geometric optics, basic wave optics, and basic photon and quantum optics. Paraxial ray tracing, aberrations and optical design, and prisms and refractive optical components are included. Polarization and polarizing optical devices are covered, as well as optical instruments such as telescopes, microscopes, and spectrometers.