Keeping abreast of the latest techniques and applications, this new edition of the standard reference and graduate text on laser spectroscopy has been completely revised and expanded. While the general concept is unchanged, the new edition features a broad array of new material, e.g., ultrafast lasers (atto- and femtosecond lasers) and parametric oscillators, coherent matter waves, Doppler-free Fourier spectroscopy with optical frequency combs, interference spectroscopy, quantum optics, the interferometric detection of gravitational waves and still more applications in chemical analysis, medical diagnostics, and engineering.

Keeping abreast of the latest techniques and applications, this new edition of the standard reference and graduate text on laser spectroscopy has been completely revised and expanded. While the general concept is unchanged, the new edition features a broad array of new material, including applications in chemical analysis, medical diagnostics, and engineering. No other book with such a broad scope is available. The author is one of the most renowned experts in this area. The book is well illustrated, and is supplemented by an extensive set of references. It will benefit all students and scientists working in the field.

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)

The impact of lasers on spectroscopy can hardly be overestimated. Lasers re present intense light sources with spectral energy densities which may exceed those of i ncoheren t sources by severa 1 orders of magnitude. Furthermore be cause of their extremely small bandwidth, single-mode lasers allow a spectral resolution which far exceeds that of conventional spectrometers. Many experi ments which could not be done before the application of lasers because of lack of intensity or insufficient resol ution are readily performed wi th lasers. Now several thousands of laser lines are known which span the whole spec tral range from the vacuum-ultraviolet to the far-infrared region. Of parti cular interest are the continuously tunable lasers which may in many cases replace wavelength-selecting elements, such as spectrometers or interferome ters. In combination with optical frequency mixing, techniques such conti nuously tunable monochromatic coherent light sources are available at nearly any desired wavelength above 100 nm.

Keeping abreast of the latest techniques and applications, this new edition of the standard reference and graduate text on laser spectroscopy has been completely revised and expanded. While the general concept is unchanged, the new edition features a broad array of new material, including applications in chemical analysis, medical diagnostics, and engineering. No other book with such a broad scope is available. The author is one of the most renowned experts in this area. The book is well illustrated, and is supplemented by an extensive set of references. It will benefit all students and scientists working in the field.

Introduction to Laser Spectroscopy is a well-written, easy-to-read guide to understanding the fundamentals of lasers, experimental methods of modern laser spectroscopy and applications. It provides a solid grounding in the fundamentals of many aspects of laser physics, nonlinear optics, and molecular spectroscopy. In addition, by comprehensively combining theory and experimental techniques it explicates a variety of issues that are essential to understanding broad areas of physical, chemical and biological science. Topics include key laser types - gas, solid state, and semiconductor - as well as the rapidly evolving field of ultrashort laser phenomena for femtochemistry applications. The examples used are well researched and clearly presented. Introduction to Laser Spectroscopy is strongly recommended to newcomers as well as researchers in physics, engineering, chemistry and biology. * A comprehensive course that combines theory and practice * Includes a systematic and comprehensive description for key laser types * Written for students and professionals looking to gain a thorough understanding of modern laser spectroscopy

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.