CO2 Lasers: Effects and Applications examines and summarizes the important applications of the device in different areas of study like physics, chemistry, and engineering. In some parts of the book, the reader is assumed to be knowledgeable in university level mathematics or some specialized area in physics or chemistry. The book consists of 10 chapters where the first two establish the general concepts on lasers and CO2 lasers, respectively. Chapter 3 takes the reader further and presents a comprehensive review of optical components for use such as detectors, windows, and mirrors. Because the CO2 laser is mostly used as a heat source, the theory of laser-surface heating is relevant in the discussion. This theory is presented in Chapter 4. Chapters 5 and 6 meanwhile present a summary of observations on cutting, welding, and some related topics. The following chapters discuss the different applications of CO2 lasers in different areas and processes. Some of these applications include in the generation of thermal effect, laser deposition of thin films, spectroscopy, laser photochemistry, and meteorology and communication systems. The text is a good source of reference to both students and scientists in the areas of physics, chemistry, and engineering.

If a basic advance in physics has any practical applications, among the first are those in biology and medicine. This is quite striking when one considers even such unlikely things as the Mössbauer effect and X rays. Within a very short period of their discovery, they had welI-formulated biological and medical applications. The discovery of the laser is no exception. AIthough the theoretical basis for it was established in 1917 by Einstein, the techniques and materials necessary for building a laser were not then available. The laser has revitalized everything connected with optics. It has furnished the experimenter and the teacher with a pseudo-point source. It has translated many a theoretical experiment into one that can be realized practicalIy. The highly monochromatic and coherent aspects of the light, in addition to the high power levels that can be attained, add greatly to the usefulness in this regard. The industrial applictions range from punching holes in baby bottle nipples to a surveyor's instrument of such accuracy that it can plot tlie position of the moon relative to the earth within a few feet. Many years of very informal meeting on the subject of lasers in medicine and biology have been sponsored by the Gordon Research Conferences. The present book is an outgrowth of the discussions that took place at these meetings, aIthough it is in no sense a symposium report.

The present book includes several contributions aiming a deeper understanding of the basic processes in the operation of CO2 lasers (lasing on non-traditional bands, frequency stabilization, photoacoustic spectroscopy) and achievement of new systems (CO2 lasers generating ultrashort pulses or high average power, lasers based on diffusion cooled V-fold geometry, transmission of IR radiation through hollow core microstructured fibers). The second part of the book is dedicated to applications in material processing (heat treatment, welding, synthesis of new materials, micro fluidics) and in medicine (clinical applications, dentistry, non-ablative therapy, acceleration of protons for cancer treatment).

The laser's range of application is extraordinary. Arthur Schawlow says, "What instrument can shuck a bucket of oysters, correct typing errors, fuse atoms, lay a straight line for a garden bed, repair detached retinas, and drill holes in dia monds?"O The laser's specifically biomedical uses cover a similarly broad and interesting spectrum. In this book, I have endeavored to convey some of the fas cination that the laser has long held for me. It is my hope that both clinicians and researchers in the various medical and surgical specialties will find the book a use ful introduction. Biologists, particularly molecular biologists, should also find a great deal of relevant information herein. This volume's distinguished contributors provide admirably lucid discussions of laser principles, instrumentation, and current practice in their respective special ties. Safety, design, capabilities, and costs of various lasers are also reviewed. We have aimed to create a practical text that is comprehensive but not exhaustive. Our emphasis on the practical, rather than the esoteric, is dictated not only by the short history of biomedical laser use, but by the extent of the community to which this information will appeal.