A uniquely practical book, this monograph is the first to describe basic and applied spectroscopic techniques for the study of physical processes in high frequency, electrodeless discharge lamps. Special attention is given to the construction and optimization of these lamps, a popular source of line spectra and an important tool in ultraprecise optical engineering. Highlights include discussions of: high precision measurements of gas pressures spectral source lifespan and more.

This thesis presents an experimental study of the ultrafast molecular dynamics of CO_2 DEGREES+ that are induced by a strong, near-infrared, femtosecond laser pulse. In particular, typical strong field phenomena such as tunneling ionisation, nonsequential double ionisation and photo-induced dissociation are investigated and controlled by employing an experimental technique called impulsive molecular alignment. Here, a first laser pulse fixes the molecule in space, such that the molecular dynamics can be studied as a function of the molecular geometry with a second laser pulse. The experiments are placed within the context of the study and control of ultrafast molecular dynamics, where sub-femtosecond (10 DEGREES-15 seconds) resolution in ever larger molecular systems represents the current frontier of research. The thesis presents the required background in strong field and molecular physics, femtosecond laser architecture and experimental techniques in a clear and accessible language that does not require any previous knowledge in

This book is an edited version of lectures given by the authors at the 1985 Jilin University Summer School on Laser Physics. The School was held at Jilin University in Changchun, Peoples' Republic of China.

This book summarizes a five year research project, as well as subsequent results regarding high power diode laser systems and their application in materials processing. The text explores the entire chain of technology, from the semiconductor technology, through cooling mounting and assembly, beam shaping and system technology, to applications in the processing of such materials as metals and polymers. Includes theoretical models, a range of important parameters and practical tips.

This book describes the basic mechanisms, theory, simulations and technological aspects of Laser processing techniques. It covers the principles of laser quenching, welding, cutting, alloying, selective sintering, ablation, etc. The main attention is paid to the quantitative description. The diversity and complexity of technological and physical processes is discussed using a unitary approach. The book aims on understanding the cause-and-effect relations in physical processes in Laser technologies. It will help researchers and engineers to improve the existing and develop new Laser machining techniques. The book addresses readers with a certain background in general physics and mathematical analysis: graduate students, researchers and engineers practicing laser applications.

This is a comprehensive tutorial on the emerging technology of free-space laser communications (FSLe. The book offers an all-inclusive source of information on the basics of FSLC, and a review of state-of-the-art technologies. Coverage includes atmospheric effects for laser propagation and FSLC systems performance and design. Free-Space Laser Communications is a valuable resource for engineers, scientists and students interested in laser communication systems designed for the atmospheric optical channel.

This book series addresses a newly emerging interdisciplinary research field, Ultrafast Intense Laser Science, spanning atomic and molecular physics, molecular science, and optical science. Highlights of this second volume include Coulomb explosion and fragmentation of molecules, control of chemical dynamics, high-order harmonic generation, propagation and filamentation, and laser-plasma interaction. All chapters are authored by foremost experts in their fields.

A timely and comprehensive survey, Excimer Laser Technology reports on the current status and range of the underlying technology, applications and devices of this commonly used laser source, as well as the future of new technologies, such as F2 laser technology.

A careful review of the literature covering various aspects of applications of lasers in science and technology reveals that lasers are being applied very widely throughout the entire gamut of physical medicine. After surveying the current developments taking place in the field of medical applications of lasers, it was considered appropriate to bring together these efforts of international research scientists and experts into one volume. It is with this aim that the editors have prepared this volume which brings current research and recent developments to the attention of a wide spectrum of readership associated with hospitals, medical institutions and universities world wide, including also the medical instrument industry. Both teachers and students in the medical faculties will especially find this compendium quite useful. This book is comprised of eleven chapters. All of the important medical applications of lasers are featured. The editors have made every effort that individual chapters are self-contained and written by experts. Emphasis has been placed on straight and simple presentation of the subject matter so that even the new entrants into the field will find the book of value.

There is a consistent trend towards miniaturization of deviees and systems in many fields of engineering, in order to achieve significant reductions in size, weight, power consumption and cost. This trend is especially evident in optics and optoelectronics, where recent years have seen rapid growth in such new or renewed areas as rnicrooptics, integrated optics, integrated optoelectronics, and diffractive optics. In November 1996, an international group of scientists convened in Eriee, Sicily, for a meeting on the subject of "Diffractive Opties and Optieal Mierosystems." This Conference was the 20th Course of the International School of Quantum Electronies, under the auspices of the "Ettore Majorana Center for Scientific Culture" and was directed by Prof. Franeo Gori of the Third University of Rome, Italy, and Prof. Giancarlo Righini of the "Nello Carrara" Institute of Research on Electromagnetic Waves (IROE-CNR) in Florence, Italy. This book presents the Proceedings of this Conference, providing a fundamental introduction to the topie as weIlas reports on recent research results.

The free electron laser (FEL) will be an outstanding tool for research and industrial application. This book describes the physical fundamentals on the basis of classical mechanics, electrodynamics, and the kinetic theory of charged particle beams, and will be suitable for graduate students and scientists alike.After a short introduction, the book discusses the theory of the FEL amplifier and oscillator and diffraction effects in the amplifier. Waveguide FEL and shot noise are also treated.

Laser ablation describes the interaction of intense optical fields with matter, in which atoms are selectively driven off by thermal or nonthermal mechanisms. This is the first book that combines the most recent results in this rapidly advancing field with authoritative treatment of laser ablation and its applications, including the physics of high-power laser-matter interaction.

This book presents an in-depth discussion of the semiconductor-laser gain medium. The optical and electronic properties of semiconductors, particularly semiconductor quantum-well systems, are analzyed in detail, covering a wide variety of near-infrared systems with or without strain, as well as wide-gap materials such as the group-III nitride compounds or the II-VI materials. The important bandstructure modifications and Coulomb interaction effects are discussed, including the solution of the longstanding semiconductor laser lineshape problem. Quantitative comparisons between measured and predicted gain/absorption and refractive index spectra for a wide variety of semiconductor-laser materials enable the theoretical results to be used directly in the engineering of advanced laser and amplifier structures. A wealth of examples for many different material combinations bestow the book with quantitative and predictive value for a wide variety of applications.

Recent state-of-the-art technologies in fabricating low-loss optical and mechanical components have significantly motivated the study of quantum-limited measurements with optomechanical devices. Such research is the main subject of this thesis. In the first part, the author considers various approaches for surpassing the standard quantum limit for force measurements. In the second part, the author proposes different experimental protocols for using optomechanical interactions to explore quantum behaviors of macroscopic mechanical objects. Even though this thesis mostly focuses on large-scale laser interferometer gravitational-wave detectors and related experiments, the general approaches apply equally well for studying small-scale optomechanical devices.

The author is the winner of the 2010 Thesis prize awarded by the Gravitational Wave International Committee.

Silicon sensors integrated with readout circuits on one chip are now being considered for a wide and growing range of applications. Technological compatibility constraints and the need for economic large-scale production are now the major concerns if these devices are to become widely used in industry and medicine. This is the first book to attempt to evaluate the real prospects and limitations of integrated silicon smart sensors. It provides a thorough introduction to and review of, the field, covering both technical and economic issues critical to the future success of this technology.

The emergence of highly efficient short-wavelength laser diodes based on the III-V compound semiconductor GaN has not only enabled high-density optical data storage, but is also expected to revolutionize display applications. Moreover, a variety of scientific applications in biophotonics, materials research and quantum optics can benefit from these versatile and cost-efficient laser light sources in the near-UV to green spectral range. This thesis describes the device physics of GaN-based laser diodes, together with recent efforts to achieve longer emission wavelengths and short-pulse emission. Experimental and theoretical approaches are employed to address the individual device properties and optimize the laser diodes toward the requirements of specific applications.

Ultrafast diode lasers offer a variety of applications including high-bit-rate optical fiber communication lines, ultrafast optical data processing, optical computing radar systems, optoelectronic measurement applications and instrumentation. This work introduces this developing field, from basic physical principles to applications. It is intended for scientists working in the fields of optical communications and data processing, ultrafast electronics and laser physics.

The development of coherent radiation sources for sub-angstrom wavelengths - i.e. in the hard X-ray and gamma-ray range - is a challenging goal of modern physics. The availability of such sources will have many applications in basic science, technology and medicine and in particular, they may have a revolutionary impact on nuclear and solid state physics, as well as on the life sciences. The present state-of-the-art lasers are capable of emitting electromagnetic radiation from the infrared to the ultraviolet, while free electron lasers (X-FELs) are now entering the soft X-ray region. Moving further, i.e. into the hard X and/or gamma ray band, however, is not possible without new approaches and technologies.

In this book we introduce and discuss one such novel approach -the radiation formed in a Crystalline Undulator -whereby electromagnetic radiation is generated by a bunch of ultra-relativistic particles channeling through a periodically bent crystalline structure. Under certain conditions, such a device can emit intensive spontaneous monochromatic radiation and even reach the coherence of laser light sources.

Readers will be presented with the underlying fundamental physics and be familiarized with the theoretical, experimental and technological advances made during the last one and a half decades in exploring the various features of investigations into crystalline undulators. This research draws upon knowledge from many research fields - such as materials science, beam physics, the physics of radiation, solid state physics and acoustics, to name but a few. Accordingly, much care has been taken by the authors to make the book as self-contained as possible in this respect, so as to also provide a usefulintroduction to this emerging field to a broad readership of researchers and scientist with various backgrounds.

This new edition has been revised and extended to take recent developments in the field into account."

This book brings together in a single volume the principles, practice and applications of the technology and places it in the context of other recent developments in optical fiber sensor technology. Relevant solid-state physics relating to fluorescent emission is reviewed to aid in materials selection all aspects of sensor design including detector circuit configurations are covered. Cross-referencing of systems with other temperature sensors and comparative evaluations with other sensor types are included.

Devices and Related Properties.- The Properties of the Pseudospark Discharge.- Review of Superdense Glow Discharge.- Basic Mechanisms Contributing to the Hollow Cathode Effect.- Cathode-Related Processes in High-Current Density, Low Pressure Glow Discharges.- Comparison of Electrode Effects in High-Pressure and Low-Pressure Gas Discharges Like Spark-Gap and Pseudospark.- Experimental Review.- Mapping and Modeling of the Cathode Fall and Negative Glow Regions.- Emission Spectroscopy in Optically Thick Gas Discharges.- An Analysis of the High Current Glow Discharge Operation of the BLT Switch.- Laser-Induced Fluorescence Measurements of Number Densities of Neutral and Ionized Metal Atoms.- Streamers in Atmospheric Pressure N2: Empirical Results.- Theoretical Modeling.- The Solution of the Continuity Equations in Ionization and Plasma Growth.- Scaling Parameters for Optically Triggered Hollow Cathode Switches Obtained by Computer Simulation.- A Physical Model of Prebreakdown in the Hollow Cathode Pseudospark Discharge Based on Numerical Simulations.- Self-Consistent Models of DC and Transient Glow Discharges.- Weak Collisions in Strong Double Layers.- The Effect of Pendel Electrons on Breakdown and Sustainment of a Hollow Cathode Discharge.- A Two-Electron-Group Model for a High Current Pseudospark or Back- Lighted Thyratron Plasma.- Electron Ionization Rate Coefficients at Very High E/N.- New Applications.- Plasma-Based Device Concepts Based on the Pseudospark and BLT.- Emittance Measurement of a Pseudospark-Produced Electron Beam.- New Ways of Electron Emission for Power Switching and Electron Beam Generation.

This book contains most, but regrettably not all, the papers that were presented at The Advanced Research Workshop, held July 1-5, 1997, at Smolenice Castle, Slovak Republic. The problem of angular divergence is of great importance in quantum electronics: low divergence is required not only in most of practical laser applications, but also for achieving high efficiency of parametric laser frequency conversion, and harmonic generation. The large volume of available studies aimed at improving the pump systems and the spectroscopic properties of lasing media, brought about no more than 2-3 fold increases in laser efficiency, while concurrent studies of angular divergence and the implementation of the findings, resulted in several order of magnitude of increases in radiance. The spatial beam structure that is formed in the laser cavity together with the active element constitute the most critical laser elements. The engineering devices, such as excitation systems, lasing gas circulation systems, etc., are usually at the top of the agenda of scientific meetings and of gatherings of engineering experts. The divergence problem has never been discussed by a broad community of experts in this field.

'Data acquisition' is concerned with taking one or more analogue signals and converting them to digital form with sufficient accu racy and speed to be ready for processing by a computer. The increasing use of computers makes this an expanding field, and it is important that the conversion process is done correctly because information lost at this stage can never be regained, no matter how good the computation. The old saying - garbage in, garbage out - is very relevant to data acquisition, and so every part of the book contains a discussion of errors: where do they come from, how large are they, and what can be done to reduce them? The book aims to treat the data acquisition process in depth with less detailed chapters on the fundamental principles of measure ment, sensors and signal conditioning. There is also a chapter on software packages, which are becoming increasingly popular. This is such a rapidly changing topic that any review of available pro grams is bound to be out of date before the book reaches the read ers. For this reason, I have described the data handling which is available in various types of program and left it to the reader to select from whatever is on the market at the time."

Vertival-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) are one of the most promising new developments in laser physics. Covering such a wide range of topics such as operation principles, design considerations and performance measurements, this book is the first of its kind in that it provides readers with a comprehensive account of the latest technological developments in VCSEL devices. In fact, all the chapters are written by pioneers and key experts who have exclusive access to the most up-to-date innovations in the respective fields. Readers will come to appreciate to all the crucial aspects of VCSEL devices. Theories and simulations as well as experiments are discussed in the book.