In the early 1970s, researchers in Canada, the Soviet Union and the United States discovered that powerful infrared laser pulses are capable of dissociating mole cules such as SiF4 and SF6' This result, which was so unexpected that for some time the phenomenon of multiple-photon dissociation was not recognized in many cir cumstances in which we now know that it occurs, was first publicized at a time when the possibility of using lasers for the separation of isotopes had attracted much attention in the scientific community. From the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, hun dreds of experimental papers were published describing the multiple-photon absorp tion of C02 laser pulses in nearly every simple molecule with an absorption band in the 9 - 11 jJm region. Despite this impressive volume of experimental results, and despite the efforts of numerous theorists, there is no agreement among re searchers in the field on many fundamental aspects of the absorption of infrared laser light by polyatomic molecules. This book is devoted to reviells of the experimental and theoretical research that provides the foundations for our current understanding of molecular multiple photon exc itat i on, and to rev i ews of research that is pert i nent to the 1 aser sep aration of isotopes.

In this monograph, the authors offer a comprehensive examination of the latest research on Laser Chemical Vapor Deposition (LCVD). Chapters explore the physics of LCVD as well as the principles of a wide range of related phenomena-including laser-matter interactions, heat transfer, fluid flow, chemical kinetics, and adsorption. With this reference, researchers will discover how to apply these principles to developing theories about various types of LCVD processes; gain greater insight into the basic mechanisms of LCVD; and obtain the ability to design and control an LCVD system.

This new edition details the important features of beam shaping and exposes the subtleties of the theory and techniques that are best demonstrated through proven applications. New chapters cover illumination light shaping in optical lithography; optical micro-manipulation of live mammalian cells through trapping, sorting, and transfection; and laser beam shaping through fiber optic beam delivery. The book discusses applications in lithography, laser printing, optical data storage, stable isotope separation, and spatially dispersive lasers. It also provides a history of the field and includes extensive references.

"Laser stimulated scattering and multiphoton excitation is the first book to comprehensively cover laser stimulated scattering studies and laser multiphoton excitation-related studies. It is essential reading for academics, research scientists, and students working or interested in the areas of nonlinear optics, nonlinear photonics, laser spectroscopy, physical optics, physical chemistry, and optoelectronic engineering. Featuring cutting-edge discussions of new discoveries in the field, including stimulated Rayleigh-Bragg scattering (SRBS) and stimulated Mie scattering (SMS), the book also examines multiphoton excitation-based nonlinear optical effects, photoelectric effects, atomic and molecular ionizatoin effects, and molecular dissociation effects. Each major stimulated scattering effect is presented in its own chapter, alongside a description of the key concepts and mechanisms, as well as the necessary theoretical formulations. Furthermore, this is an engaging text that explains the latest experimental research achievements and their scientific and technological applications."--Back cover

Laser spectroscopy has been perfected over the last fifteen years to become a precise tool for the investigation of highly vibrationally excited molecules. Intense infrared laser radiation permits both the multiple-photon resonant excitation and the dissociation of polyatomic molecules. In this book, the latest results of some of the foremost Soviet researchers are published for the first time in the West. Laser Spectroscopy of Highly Vibrationally Excited Molecules contains a comprehensive study of both the experimental and theoretical aspects of the basic photophysical interactions that occur in these processes. The book first focuses on the nonlinear interaction between the resonant vibrational mode and the intense infrared field and then examines the nonlinear interaction between the vibrational modes themselves due to anharmonicity. These interrelated processes determine all the characteristics of polyatomic molecules in an infrared field. The book also discusses related phenomena such as spectra broadening, optical resonance, photon echoes, and dynamical chaos. It includes examples of multiple-photon resonant excitation such as the excitation of OsO4 by CO^O2 laser radiation, which is detected by the visible luminescence that results. This book will be of great interest to researchers and postgraduate students in infrared laser spectroscopy and the laser chemistry of molecules and applications of isotope separation.

The possibility of initiating chemical reactions by high-intensity laser exci tation has captured the imagination of chemists and physicists as well as of industrial scientists and the scientifically informed public in general ever since the laser first became available. Initially, great hopes were held that laser-induced chemistry would revolutionize synthetic chemistry, making possible "bond-specific" or "mode-specific" reactions that were impos sible to achieve under thermal equilibrium conditions. Indeed, some of the early work in this area, typically employing high-power continuous-wave sources, was interpreted in just this way. With further investigation, however, a more conservative picture has emerged, with the laser taking its place as one of a number of available methods for initiation of high-energy chemical transformations. Unlike a number of these methods, such as flash photolysis, shock tubes, and electron-beam radiolysis, the laser is capable of a high degree of spatial and molecular localization of deposited energy, which in turn is reflected in such applications as isotope enrichment or localized surface treatments. The use of lasers to initiate chemical processes has led to the discovery of several distinctly new molecular phenomena, foremost among which is that of multiple-photon excitation and dissociation of polyatomic molecules. This research area has received the greatest attention thus far and forms the focus of the present volume.