The increasing use of fiber optics in the field of medicine has created a need for an interdisciplinary perspective of the technology and methods for physicians as well as engineers and biophysicists. This book presents a comprehensive examination of lasers and optical fibers in an hierarchical, three-tier system. Each chapter is divided into three basic sections: the Fundamentals section provides an overview of basic concepts and background; the Principles section offers an in-depth engineering approach; and the Advances section features specific information on systems and biophysical parameters. All those interested in the fields of lasers and fiber optics will find this book fascinating and instructive reading.

SPIE Milestones are collections of seminal papers from the world literature covering important discoveries and developments in optics and photonics.

Lasers and Optical Instrumentation covers B.E., M.E., and M. Sc. (Electronics) degree courses. The text covers basic principles of lasers, types of lasers and their characteristics, laser applications in engineering and medicine. Further the book includes extensive coverage of optoelectronic devices, fibre optic communication and fibre optic sensors. The book includes many solved problems throughout the text to support the theoretical concepts and help in understanding of underlying principles. Review questions have been included at the end of each chapter to practise and self-study. Spread in Ten Chapters the book broadly covers: " Characteristics of lasers, mode locking, Q-switching, powerful lasers, frequency stabilisation " Overview of applications of lasers in science, engineering and medicine; reliability and safety aspects " Laser interferometer, laser strain gauges, laser Doppler velocimeter, laser ranging, mechanical cutting, welding, scribing, holography " Applications of Raman spectroscopy " Application of laser devices, optical fibers etc., in fiber optic communications " Integrated optics, radiation source, transmission link, detector " Fibre optical sensors, non-intrusively, displacements, pressure, temperature, high currents, angular velocity " Future perspectives nanophotonics, quantum dots, photonic crystals

The fiber laser, with its humble beginning in the late 1980s, has undergone tremendous development in the past decade or so, transforming itself from a research curiosity to a major force in modern manufacturing. Today, it is revolutionizing our economy by fundamentally changing the way we mark, machine, and process materials on an industrial scale. The recent development of high-power fiber lasers is also fundamentally shaping a wide range of other areas from physical sciences and medicine to geology and space exploration. In the past few years, the tactical deployment of direct energy weapons based on fiber lasers has become a reality. The development of fiber lasers is rooted in a number of technical areas including optical materials, optical waveguide design, nonlinear optics, optical fiber fabrication, and optical characterization, in addition to optical fiber components, and fiber laser design and architecture. No comprehensive in-depth coverage of such diverse topical areas has appeared in a single book. Many important developments have taken place in the past decade in both academia and industry. This book comprehensively covers the basics, technology and applications of fiber lasers including up-to-date developments in both academia and industry and is aimed to serve as both an introduction and research aid for graduate students, engineers, and scientists who are new to this field and also for veterans in the field

The use of lasers in medical practice has dramatically increased over the years. Lasers and modern optics have largely been unexplored in medical science. This contributed work is both optimistic and cautionary in its expert evaluation of the state-of-the-art medical use of laser technology. The use of lasers to improve upon conventional practice i