'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 This is such a rapidly changing topic that any review of available pro grams is bound to be out of date before the book reaches the read ers.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.

This book highlights the rapidly developing field of advanced optical methods for structural and functional brain imaging. As is known, the brain is the most poorly understood organ of a living body. It is indeed the most complex structure in the known universe and, thus, mapping of the brain has become one of the most exciting frontlines of contemporary research. Starting from the fundamentals of the brain, neurons and synapses, this book presents a streamlined and focused coverage of the core principles, theoretical and experimental approaches, and state-of-the-art applications of most of the currently used imaging methods in brain research. It presents contributions from international leaders on different photonics-based brain imaging modalities and techniques. Included are comprehensive descriptions of many of the technology driven spectacular advances made over the past few years that have allowed novel insights of the structural and functional details of neurons. The book is targeted at researchers, engineers and scientists who are working in the field of brain imaging, neuroscience and connectomics. Although this book is not intended to serve as a textbook, it will appeal to undergraduate students engaged in the specialization of brain imaging.

The thesis presents experimental and theoretical results about the surface dynamics and the surface Dirac fermion (DF) spectral function of the strong topological insulators Bi2Te3 and Bi2Se3. The experimental results reveal the presence of a strong Kohn anomaly in the measured surface phonon dispersion of a low-lying optical mode, and the absence of surface Rayleigh acoustic phonons. Fitting the experimental data to theoretical models employing phonon Matsubara functions allowed the extraction of the matrix elements of the coupling Hamiltonian and the modifications to the surface phonon propagator that are encoded in the phonon self-energy. This allowed, for the first time, calculation of phonon mode-specific DF coupling (q) from experimental data, with average coupling significantly higher than typical values for metals, underscoring the strong coupling between optical surface phonons and surface DFs in topological insulators. Finally, to connect to experimental results obtained from photoemission spectroscopies, an electronic (DF) Matsubara function was constructed using the determined electron-phonon matrix elements and the optical phonon dispersion. This allowed calculation of the DF spectral function and density of states, allowing for comparison with photoemission and scanning tunneling spectroscopies. The results set the necessary energy resolution and extraction methodology for calculating from the DF perspective.

In the thirty years since the invention of the CO2 gas laser, the major design issue has shifted from how to obtain the desired power level to how to achieve reliable operation. At the same time, the opening of many laser development facilities in the Former Soviet Union has allowed their achievements and design approaches to be understood and appreciated for the first time. Further, the industrial laser user community has identified a number of emerging applications at higher power levels (15-20 kW) than are attainable by most commercial devices. In High Power Lasers - Science and Engineering, the designers, developers and users of high-power gas laser systems discuss design approaches, methods of enhancing performance, new applications, and user requirements.

This timely resource guides novices and experts through the jungle of infrared (IR) technology and applications available today. It explains contempoary technologies with enough detail for engineers or scientists, and with appropriate clarity and conciseness for managers.

This introduction to the next generation of human telecommunications enterprise examines the development of laser satellite communications and describes its advantages over previous technologies. It looks at the development of the technology and the industry through wired and wireless media and presents the vision, promise, and challenges of free-space lasers. The book balances its focused consideration of the telecommunications industry and markets with practical thoughts on creating a business involved in the introduction of commercial laser satellite communications systems. Scholars, investors, venture capitalists, policy makers, and corporate leaders will find this to be a comprehensive and eye-opening bridge between the existing telecommunications industry and the opportunities of the next generation.

The opening chapters introduce the concepts of Migration, Specialization, and Interconnectivity as solutions inherent in third generation laser-satellite communications. The high capacity of the optical spectrum invites migration of applications beyond the narrow RF spectra to the high frequencies of free-space laser beams. Migration stimulates specialization of voice and duplex at the lower, optimal RF spectra. The third generation--laser-wired space--focuses around global satellite interconnectivity between fiber optics and RF. The final chapters introduce a model business concept to pioneer the third generation. Several approaches to capitalization, organization, technology development, and business strategies provide an exciting stimulus for pragmatic approaches to commercial concepts.

This thesis offers a thorough and informative study of high-power, high-energy optical parametric chirped pulse amplifications systems, the foundation of the next generation of femtosecond laser technology. Starting from the basics of the linear processes involved and the essential design considerations, the author clearly and systematically describes the various prerequisites of the nonlinear optical systems expected to drive attosecond physics in the coming decade. In this context, he gives an overview of methods for generating the broadband and carrier-envelope-phase stable seed pulses necessary for producing controlled electric-field waveforms in the final system; provides a guide to handling the high-power, high-energy pump lasers required to boost the pulse energy to the desired operating range; describes the design of the nonlinear optical system used to perform the amplification, including modes of operation for ultra-broadband infrared-visible pulses or narrowband (yet still ultrafast) pulses tunable over multiple octaves; and finally presents a prospective high-energy field synthesizer based upon these techniques. As such, this work is essential reading for all scientists interested in utilizing the newest generation of ultrafast systems.

Nonlinear Optics in Signal Processing covers the applications of nonlinear optics to optical processing in a range of areas including switching, computing, and telecommunications.

Tighter regulations of harmful substances such as NOx, CO, heavy metals, particles, emissions from commercial plants and automobiles reflect a growing demand for lowering the anthropogenic burdens on the environment. It is equally important to monitor controlling factors to improve the operation of industrial machinery and plants. Among the many methods for doing this, laser diagnostics stands out. Taking a practical approach, Industrial Applications of Laser Diagnostics discusses how to apply laser diagnostics to engines, gas turbines, thermal and chemical plant systems, and disposal facilities. It also briefly discusses their growing application in biochemical fields.

The book introduces the guidelines for industrial applications of laser diagnostics, briefly describes the main components of laser diagnostics systems, and summarizes application codes of laser diagnostics to industrial systems. The author them discusses laser induced fluorescence, laser induced breakdown spectroscopy, spontaneous Raman spectroscopy and CARS, tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy, and time of flight mass spectroscopy. He provides theoretical explanations and complex equations, which are usually main inhibitors, in appendices or indicates them with citations.

Although the diagnostics have been well documented in the scientific literature, and the techniques in journals, the applications have not. And usually these books are comprehensible only to those in this field, not researchers from other fields or from industry. Until now. Incorporating a plethora of real life industrial examples and applications, this text underscores the real potential for these techniques in industrial applications.

There is currently a high level of interest in the field of nonlinear guided wave optics with the availability of nonlinear materials and their use in new areas of application. This is particularly the case for solitons and other types of nonlinear pulses in optical fibers, high capacity dispersion-free communications. Further, soliton-like beams in highly nonlinear materials, such as organic polymers, are being studied with a view to using them for fast-switching purposes in devices where the light creates its own guiding channel. Written by two authors who are at the forefront of this research, Solitons provides a thorough treatment of the applications of switching devices. It presents the results of the most up to date research on the subject in an accessible manner and adopts a unified approach to solitons in fibers and the devices which use them. The book is an essential reference work for both professional engineers working in optoelectronics and telecommunications companies and graduate students and researchers in the area.

An impulse for writing this book has originated from the effort to sum marize and publicise the acquired results of a research team at the De partment of Automation of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and In formatics, Slovak Technical University in Bratislava. The research team has been involved for a long time with control problems for machine production mechanisms and, in recent (approximately 15) years, its effort was aimed mostly at the control of electrical servosystems of robots. Within this scope, the members of the authors' staff solved the State Re search Task Ultrasonic sensing of the position of a robot hand, which was coordinated by the Institute of Technical Cybernetics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava. The problem was solved in a complex way, i.e. from a conceptual de sign of the measurement, through the measurement and evaluation sys tem, up to connection to the control system of a robot. Compensation of the atmospheric influence on the precision of measurement, as well as on the electroacoustical transducers, were important parts of the solution. The solution was aimed at using the ultrasonic pulse method which en ables the measurement of absolute 3D position coordinates, contrary to the relative position measurements by the incremental pick-ups which are standard robotic equipment."

These proceedings comprise invited and contributed papers presented at the 14th International Conference on X-Ray Lasers (ICXRL 2014). This conference is part of a continuing series dedicated to recent developments and applications of x-ray lasers and other coherent x-ray sources with attention to supporting technologies and instrumentation. New results in the generation of intense, coherent x-rays and progress toward practical devices and their applications in numerous fields are reported. Areas of research in plasma-based x-ray lasers, 4th generation accelerator-based sources and higher harmonic generation, and other x-ray generation schemes are covered. The scope of ICXRL 2014 included, but was not limited to: Laser-pumped X-ray lasers Discharge excitation and other X-ray laser pumping methods Injection/seeding of X-ray amplifiers New lasing transitions and novel X-ray laser schemes High Harmonic sources-Free-electron laser generation in the XUV and X-ray range Novel schemes for coherent XUV and X-ray generation XUV and X-ray optics and metrology-Driving laser technology Theory and modeling of X-ray gain medium and beam characteristics Applications of high brightness and ultrashort X-ray sources

This essential volume, a brilliant source for engineers as well as scientists in numerous fields, document the state of the art of laser physics and it applications. Scientific trends and related technological aspects are considered by compiling results and conclusions from phenomenology, observation and experiments. Reliable data, physical fundamentals and detailed references are presented. In recent decades the laser source has matured to a universal tool.

The PUILS series delivers up-to-date reviews of progress in Ultrafast Intense Laser Science, a newly emerging interdisciplinary research field spanning atomic and molecular physics, molecular science and optical science which has been stimulated by the recent developments in ultrafast laser technologies. Each volume compiles peer-reviewed articles authored by researchers at the forefront of each their own subfields of UILS. Every chapter opens with an overview of the topics to be discussed, so that researchers unfamiliar to the subfield as well as graduate students can grasp the importance and attractions of the research topic at hand. These are followed by reports of cutting-edge discoveries. This eighth volume covers a broad range of topics from this interdisciplinary research field, focusing on molecules interacting with ultrashort and intense laser fields, advanced technologies for the characterization of ultrashort laser pulses and their applications, laser plasma formation and laser acceleration.

The PUILS series delivers up-to-date reviews of progress in Ultrafast Intense Laser Science, a newly emerging interdisciplinary research field spanning atomic and molecular physics, molecular science, and optical science, which has been stimulated by the recent developments in ultrafast laser technologies. Each volume compiles peer-reviewed chapters authored by researchers at the forefront of each their own subfields of UILS. Every chapter begins with an overview of the topics to be discussed, so that researchers unfamiliar to the subfield, as well as graduate students, can grasp the importance and attractions of the research topic at hand; these are followed by reports of cutting-edge discoveries. This seventh volume covers a broad range of topics from this interdisciplinary research field, focusing on the ionization of atoms and molecules, ultrafast responses of protons and electrons within a molecule, molecular alignment, high-order harmonics and attosecond pulse generation, and acceleration of electrons and ions in laser plasmas.

Optics and Lasers is an introduction to applied optics, covering elementary ray and wave optics as well as lasers, holography, fibers, optical waveguides, integrated optics, and quantum noise. Further chapters deal with the physical principles of optical instruments, light sources, and detectors. Numerous examples and exercises with complete solutions help the readers to deepen their knowledge.This completely revised and enlarged edition is intended for advanced undergraduates in laser physics and engineering but will also be helpful for active scientists.

Digital holography and digital image processing are twins born by computer era. They share origin, theoretical base, methods and algorithms. The present book describes these common fundamentals principles, methods and algorithms including image and hologram digitization, data compression, digital transforms and efficient computational algorithms, statistical and Monte-Carlo methods, image restoration and enhancement, image reconstruction in tomography and digital holography, discrete signal resampling and image geometrical transformations, accurate measurements and reliable target localization in images, recording and reconstruction of computer generated holograms, adaptive and nonlinear filters for sensor signal perfecting and image restoration and enhancement. The book combines theory, heavily illustrated practical methods and efficient computational algorithms and is written for senior-level undergraduate and graduate students, researchers and engineers in optics, photonics, opto-electronics and electronic engineering.

This volume includes revised and extended versions of selected papers presented at the Tenth International Symposium on Applications of Laser Techniques to Fluid Mechanics held in Lisbon in July 2000.The papers describe instrumentation developments for velocity, scalar and multiphase flows and results of measurements of turbulent flows, and combustion and engines. Focus is placed on laser-Doppler anemometry, particle sizing and other methods for the measurement of velocity and scalars, such as particle image velocimetry and laser induced fluorescence. The application of laser techniques to scientific and engineering fluid flow research was emphasized, but contributions to the theory and practice of laser were also considered where they facilitate new improved fluid mechanic research.

The International Conference on Laser Physics and Quantum Optics was held in Shanghai from August 25 to August 28, 1999, to discuss many exciting new developments in laser physics and quantum optics. The international character of the conference was manifested by the fact that scientists from over 13 countries participated and lectured at the conference. There were four keynote lectures delivered by Nobel laureate Willis Lamb, Jr., Profs. H. Walther, A.E. Siegman and M.O. Scully. In addition, there were 34 invited lectures, 27 contributed oral presentations, and 59 poster papers. This volume contains many of the papers presented at the conference.

A Guide to Laser Safety is a practical guide to the safe use of lasers in science, education, industry, telecommunications, medicine and entertainment. It explains the nature of laser hazards, the requirement of international safety standards and the effective implementation of safety controls. A Guide to Laser Safety is divided into three sections. Part One gives an overview of the essentials of laser safety, briefly describing the nature of laser technology, the hazards of laser radiation, the system of laser classification and general approaches to hazard control. Part Two presents the background to laser safety in greater detail, discussing laser operations, the measurement of laser emission and exposure, the biological effects of laser radiation, the management of health and safety, and the quantitative assessment of laser hazards. Part Three considers the practical implementation of laser safety in specific areas of application, covering the use of lasers in science and engineering, industrial processing, medicine, telecommunications and entertainment.

A half century after its invention, and after several waves of optimism and pessimism, holography is now poised to achieve widespread application. Holograms are now being used as tools in many industries, from heads-up displays in aircraft to directing interconnections in massively parallel computing. Acoustic holograms can provide three-dimensional images of internal organs without surgery or dangerous radiation, and holography forms the basis of several other forms of nondestructive testing. This book provides both a review of the development of the field and of the applications likely to be important in the 21st century. It begins with a review by Emmett Leith, one of the inventors of holography - or re-inventors, after Denis Gabor's original work in 1947. Two chapters discuss the frontiers of holographic imaging, including color holograms and stereographic movies. Several subsequent chapters describe novel methods of forming and viewing holographic images, including the use of low-coherence sources or even computers to generate the holograms. The book concludes with a sampling of new applications of holography, including its uses in improving the efficiency of solar cells, in nondestructive testing, in improving the coherence properties of light, in data storage, and in investigations of fundamental physics.

The PUILS series delivers up-to-date reviews of progress in Ultrafast Intense Laser Science, a newly emerging interdisciplinary research field spanning atomic and molecular physics, molecular science, and optical science, which has been stimulated by the recent developments in ultrafast laser technologies. Each volume compiles peer-reviewed articles authored by researchers at the forefront of each their own subfields of UILS. Every chapter opens with an overview of the topics to be discussed, so that researchers unfamiliar to the subfield, as well as graduate students, can grasp the importance and attractions of the research topic at hand; these are followed by reports of cutting-edge discoveries. This tenth volume covers a broad range of topics from this interdisciplinary research field, focusing on electron scattering by atoms in intense laser fields, atoms and molecules in ultrashort pulsed EUV and X-ray light fields, filamentation induced by intense laser fields, and physics in super-intense laser fields.

This book presents the state of the art in nonlinear nanostructures for ultrafast laser applications. Most recent results in two emerging fields are presented: (i) generation of laser-induced nanostructures in materials like metals, metal oxides and semiconductors, and (ii) ultrafast excitation and energy transfer in nanoscale physical, chemical and hybrid systems. Particular emphasis is laid on the up-to-date controversially discussed mechanisms of sub-wavelength ripple formation including models of self-organized material transport and multiphoton excitation channels, nonlinear optics of plasmonic structures (nanotips, nanowires, 3D-metamaterials), and energy localization and transport on ultrafast time scale and spatial nanoscale. High-resolution spectroscopy, simulation and characterization techniques are reported. New applications of ultrashort-pulsed lasers for materials processing and the use of nanostructured materials for characterizing laser fields and laser-matter-interactions are discussed.

Novel coherent light sources such as x-ray free-electron lasers open exciting prospects for the interaction of light with nuclei. The thesis "Coherent Control of Nuclei and X-rays" covers this still-developing field and proposes, in a daring attempt to revolutionize nuclear physics, three innovative schemes for taming nuclei using coherent effects. The theoretical explorations, which address control of nuclear quantum states, a nuclear memory for single photons in future photonic circuits, and optimized concepts for a nuclear clock, make use of new approaches at the borderline between nuclear physics and quantum dynamics. The result is a well written work, impressive in its stimulating style and promising ideas.