Lasers continue to be an amazingly robust field of activity. Anyone seeking a photon source is now confronted with an enormous number of possible lasers and laser wavelengths to choose from, but no single, comprehensive source to help them make that choice. The Handbook of Lasers provides an authoritative compilation of lasers, their properties, and original references in a readily accessible form. Organized by lasing media-solids, liquids, and gases-each section is subdivided into distinct laser types. Each type carries a brief description, followed by tables listing the lasing element or medium, host, lasing transition and wavelength, operating properties, primary literature citations, and, for broadband lasers, reported tuning ranges. The importance and value of the Handbook of Lasers cannot be overstated. Serving as both an archive and as an indicator of emerging trends, it reflects the state of knowledge and development in the field, provides a rapid means of obtaining reference data, and offers a pathway to the literature. It contains data useful for comparison with predictions and for developing models of processes, and may reveal fundamental inconsistencies or conflicts in the data.

For list of publications see covers, pt. 28/30, April/June, 1890, p. x; pt. 82, December 1900, p. iii-iv.

Several encyclopedias overview the contemporary system of criminal justice in America, but full understanding of current social problems and contemporary strategies to deal with them can come only with clear appreciation of the historical underpinnings of those problems. Thus, this five-volume work surveys the history and philosophy of crime, punishment, and criminal justice institutions in America from colonial times to the present. It covers the whole of the criminal justice system, from crimes, law enforcement and policing, to courts, corrections and human services. Among other things, this encyclopedia: explicates philosophical foundations underpinning our system of justice; charts changing patterns in criminal activity and subsequent effects on legal responses; identifies major periods in the development of our system of criminal justice; and explores in the first four volumes - supplemented by a fifth volume containing annotated primary documents - evolving debates and conflicts on how best to address issues of crime and punishment. Its signed entries in the first four volumes--supplemented by a fifth volume containing annotated primary documents--provide the historical context for students to better understand contemporary criminological debates and the contemporary shape of the U.S. system of law and justice.