The second edition of Electronic Imaging in Astronomy: Detectors and Instrumentation describes the remarkable developments that have taken place in astronomical detectors and instrumentation in recent years -- from the invention of the charge-coupled device (CCD) in 1970 to the current era of very large telescopes, such as the Keck 10-meter telescopes in Hawaii with their laser guide-star adaptive optics which rival the image quality of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Authored by one of the world s foremost experts on the design and development of electronic imaging systems for astronomy, this book has been written on several levels to appeal to a broad readership. Mathematical expositions are controlled to encourage a wider audience, especially among the growing community of amateur astronomers who own small telescopes with CCD cameras. The book can be used at the college level for a one semester introductory course on modern astronomical detectors and instruments, and as a supplement for a practical or laboratory class. But it also provides the core of a one semester course on astronomical instrumentation for new graduate (PhD) students who may very soon be faced with using, or even building, electronic imaging systems.

The book contains worked examples, problems & solutions, end-of-chapter references and a glossary."

This thesis reports the remarkable discovery that, by arranging the dipoles in an ordered array with particular spacings, it is possible to greatly enhance the cross-section and achieve a strong light-matter coupling (>98% of the incident light). It also discusses the broad background to cooperative behaviour in atomic ensembles, and analyses in detail effects in one- and two-dimensional atomic arrays. In general, when light interacts with matter it excites electric dipoles and since the nineteenth century it has been known that if the amplitude of these induced dipoles is sufficiently large, and their distance apart is on the scale of the wavelength of the light, then their mutual interaction significantly modifies the light-matter interaction. However, it was not known how to exploit this effect to modify the light-matter interaction in a desirable way, for example in order to enhance the optical cross-section.

This book gives a theoretical description of linear and nonlinear optical responses of matter with special emphasis on the microscopic and "nonlocal" nature of resonant response. The response field and induced polarization are determined self-consistently in terms of simultaneous linear or nonlinear polynomial equations. This scheme is a general one situated between QED and macroscopic response theory, but is most appropriate for determining the dependence of optical signals on the size, shape, and internal structure of a nanostructure sample. As a highlight of the scheme, the multi-resonant enhancement of the DFWM signal is described together with its experimental verification.

This volume presents the Proceedings of New Development in Optics and Related Fields, held in Erice, Sicily, Italy, from the 6th to the 21st of June, 2005. This meeting was organized by the International School of Atomic and Molecular Spectroscopy of the Ettore Majorana Center for Scientific Culture. The purpose of this Institute was to provide a comprehensive and coherent treatment of the new techniques and contemporary developments in optics and related fields. Several lectures of the course addressed directly the technologies required for the detection and identification of chemical and biological threats; other lectures considered the possible applications of new techniques and materials to the detection and identification of such threats. Each lecturer developed a coherent section of the program starting at a somewhat fundamental level and ultimately reaching the frontier of knowledge in the field in a systematic and didactic fashion.

The book provides a comprehensive presentation of the topic of phononic and sonic crystals, including acoustic and elastic wave propagation in homogeneous and periodic media, Bloch waves and band structures, surface phononic crystals and phononic crystal slabs, evanescent Bloch waves and complex band structures, local resonance, dispersion and negative refraction, and phononic band gap guidance. The book is accompanied with a comprehensive set of finite element model (FEM) scripts for solving basic phononic crystal problems, as supplementary material. The scripts should allow the reader to generate band structures for 2D and 3D phononic crystals, to compute Bloch waves, waveguide and cavity modes, and more. They can be accessed here: https://members.femto-st.fr/vincent-laude/freefem-scripts-numerical-simulation-phononic-crystals

This 4th volume of LIGHT SCATTERING REVIEWS is devoted to modern knowledge and milestones in both experimental and theoretical techniques related to light scattering and radiative transport problems. It consists of 3 chapters comprising 12 contributions written by leading world experts in their respective fields. The general focus of the book is on single light scattering and radiative transfer. The three chapters are devoted to experimental studies in the optics of light scattering media.

The first chapter consists of three parts: In the first part, the main properties of scattering matrices are presented in a systematic way, together with polarimetric decomposition theorems in a great detail. The Green s function techniques for plane wave scattering by nonspherical particles is introduced in the second part. Different conceptual advantages and disadvantages of various numerical schemes developed in the past for the calculation of light scattering and absorption properties of small particles are discussed. The chapter concludes with studies of representations of the rotation group and T-matrix methods as applied for the calculation of optical properties of small particles with various habits.

The second chapter of the book describes recent results in the broad area of forward and inverse problems of the radiative transfer. The first paper surveys techniques for theoretical studies of light scattering and polarization of molecular atmosphere. The application of time-dependent radiative transfer equation for cloud remote sensing and the peculiarities of radiative transfer of fluorescent and bioluminescent light in biological tissues are then considered, together with the importance of optical imaging in clinical and pre-clinical applications. The applications of the linearized radiative transfer equation and inverse problems for a particular case of the spherical atmosphere are included.

The final chapter of the book covers recent advances in the experimental studies in the field of light scattering media optics. The instruments, measurements, and data processing used in experimental studies of optical properties of small particles using an imaging technique are extensively described before a study of aerosols in a controlled environment using static and dynamic light scattering. The book ends with a description of advances in dynamic light scattering techniques.

This fourth volume gives a valuable picture of recent developments in the areas of single light scattering, radiative transfer in particulate media (e.g., terrestrial atmosphere and tissues), and inverse problems for multiple scattering media. It will further facilitate studies in light scattering media optics and aid researchers across various scientific fields, including astronomy, meteorology, biophysics, medical optics and geophysics."

This corrected and expanded printing of Thin Films on Glass describes the development of active and passive thin films on glass at Schott, including recent developments and new technologies in glass ceramic reflectors, coatings on plastics and optical multilayers for ultra narrow band pass filters. Design strategies, the use of conventional and newly developed production technologies, and the application of characterization methods for the structure of thin films and their properties are reported. The book is written by Schott experts and illustrates how the best film materials and deposition and processing parameters may be selected. The topics covered include flip-flop layers, wave-guiding films, Rugate filters and gradient devices, optical transducers, coatings, and mirrors.  

Parkinson's disease is a neurological disorder with cardinal motor signs of resting tremor, bradykinesia and lead-pipe rigidity. In addition, many patients display non-motor symptoms, including a diminished sensation of smell, gastrointestinal problems, various disorders of sleep and some cognitive impairment. These clinical features - particularly the motor signs - manifest after a progressive death of many dopaminergic neurones in the brain. Although currently available, conventional therapies can reduce the signs of the disease, the progression of this neuronal death has proved difficult to slow or stop, and the condition is relentlessly progressive. Hence, there is a real need to develop a treatment that is neuroprotective, one that slows the pathology of the disease effectively. At present, there are several neuroprotective therapies in the experimental pipeline, but these are for the patients of tomorrow. This book focuses on two therapies that are readily available for the patients of today. They involve the use of exercise and light (i.e. photobiomodulation, the use of red to infrared light therapy ( =600-1070nm) on body tissues). The two therapies are tied together in several ways. First, in animal models of Parkinson's disease, they each have been shown to offer the key feature of neuroprotection, stimulating a series of built-in protective mechanisms within the neurones, that helps their survival, to self-protect and/or self-repair. There are also some promising indications of neuroprotection and many beneficial outcomes in parkinsonian patients. Further, both exercise and light therapies are similar in that they are non-invasive and safe to use, with no known adverse side-effects, making their combination with the conventional therapies, such as dopamine replacement drug therapy and deep brain stimulation, all the more feasible. Given the heterogeneity of Parkinson's disease in humans, tackling the condition from a range of different angles - with a number of different therapies - would only serve to enhance the positive outcomes. This book considers the use of exercise and light therapies, proposing that they have the potential to make a powerful "dynamic duo", offering a most effective neuroprotective treatment option to patients.

This book covers the basics, realization and materials for high power laser systems and high power radiation interaction with matter. The physical and technical fundamentals of high intensity laser optics and adaptive optics and the related physical processes in high intensity laser systems are explained. A main question discussed is: What is power optics? In what way is it different from ordinary optics widely used in cameras, motion-picture projectors, i.e., for everyday use? An undesirable consequence of the thermal deformation of optical elements and surfaces was discovered during studies of the interaction with powerful incident laser radiation. The requirements to the fabrication, performance and quality of optical elements employed within systems for most practical applications are also covered. The high-power laser performance is generally governed by the following: (i) the absorption of incident optical radiation (governed primarily by various absorption mechanisms), (ii) followed by a temperature increase and response governed primarily by thermal properties and (iii) the thermo-optical and thermo-mechanical response of distortion, stress, fracture, etc. All this needs to be understood to design efficient, compact, reliable and useful high power systems for many applications under a variety of operating conditions, pulsed, continuous wave and burst mode of varying duty cycles. The book gives an overview of an important spectrum of related topics like laser resonator configurations, intermetallic optical coatings, heat carriers for high power optics, cellular materials, high-repetition-rate lasers and mono-module disk lasers for high power optics.

Unlike most natural colours that are based on pigment absorption, the striking iridescent and intense colouration of many butterflies, birds or beetles stems from the interaction of light with periodic sub-micrometer surface or volume patterns, so called "photonic structures". These "structural colours" are increasingly well understood, but they are difficult to create artificially and exploit technologically. In this thesis the field of natural structural colours and biomimetic photonic structures is covered in a wide scope, ranging from plant photonics to theoretical optics. It demonstrates diffractive elements on the petal surfaces of many flowering plant species; these form the basis for the study of the role of structural colours in pollinator attraction. Self-assembly techniques, combined with scale able nanofabrication methods, were used to create complex artificial photonic structures inspired by those found in nature. In particular, the colour effect of a Papilio butterfly was mimicked and, by variation of its design motive, enhanced. All photonic effects described here are underpinned by state-of-the-art model calculations.

This volume provides a detailed discussion of the mathematical aspects and the physical applications of a new geometrical structure of space-time, based on a generalization ("deformation") of the usual Minkowski space, as supposed to be endowed with a metric whose coefficients depend on the energy.

Such a formalism (Deformed Special Relativity, DSR) allows one

• to account for breakdown of local Lorentz invariance in the usual, special-relativistic meaning (however, Lorentz invariance is recovered in a generalized sense)
• to provide an effective geometrical description of the four fundamental interactions (electromagnetic, weak, strong and gravitational)

Moreover, the four-dimensional energy-dependent space-time is just a manifestation of a larger, five-dimensional space in which energy plays the role of a fifth (non-compactified) dimension. This new five-dimensional scheme (Deformed Relativity in Five Dimensions, DR5) represents a true generalization of the usual Kaluza-Klein (KK) formalism.

The mathematical properties of such a generalized KK scheme are illustrated. They include the solutions of the five-dimensional Einstein equations in vacuum in most cases of physical relevance, the infinitesimal symmetries of the theory for the phenomenological metrics of the four interactions, and the study of the five-dimensional geodesics.

The mathematical results concerning the geometry of the deformed five-dimensional spacetime (like its Killing symmetries) can be applied also to other multidimensional theories with infinite extra dimensions. Some experiments providing preliminary evidence for the hypothesized deformation of space-time for all thefour fundamental interactions are discussed.

Better understand the mechanism of degradation, and gain insight into the major degradation modes of optical devices fabricated from three different systems with this book. It explains the character of defects and imperfections induced during material growth and fabrication, presents techniques for failure analysis, and describes methods for elimination of defect-generating mechanisms.

Following the birth of the laser in 1960, the field of "nonlinear optics" rapidly emerged.

Today, laser intensities and pulse durations are readily available, for which the concepts and approximations of traditional nonlinear optics no longer apply. In this regime of "extreme nonlinear optics," a large variety of novel and unusual effects arise, for example frequency doubling in inversion symmetric materials or high-harmonic generation in gases, which can lead to attosecond electromagnetic pulses or pulse trains. Other examples of "extreme nonlinear optics" cover diverse areas such as solid-state physics, atomic physics, relativistic free electrons in a vacuum and even the vacuum itself.

This book starts with an introduction to the field based primarily on extensions of two famous textbook examples, namely the Lorentz oscillator model and the Drude model. Here the level of sophistication should be accessible to any undergraduate physics student. Many graphical illustrations and examples are given. The following chapters gradually guide the student towards the current "state of the art" and provide a comprehensive overview of the field. Every chapter is accompanied by exercises to deepen the reader's understanding of important topics, with detailed solutions at the end of the book.

Integrated Optics explains the subject of optoelectronic devices and their use in integrated optics and fiber optic systems. The approach taken is to emphasize the physics of how devices work and how they can be (and have been) used in various applications as the field of optoelectronics has progressed from microphotonics to nanophotonics. Illustrations and references from technical journals have been used to demonstrate the relevance of the theory to currently important topics in industry. By reading this book, scientists, engineers, students and engineering managers can obtain an overall view of the theory and the most recent technology in Integrated Optics.

This book brings together the recent cutting-edge work on computational methods in photonics and their applications. The latest advances in techniques such as the Discontinuous Galerkin Time Domain method, Finite Element Time Domain method, Finite Difference Time Domain method as well as their applications are presented. Key aspects such as modelling of non-linear effects (Second Harmonic Generation, lasing in fibers, including gain nonlinearity in metamaterials), the acousto-optic effect, and the hydrodynamic model to explain electron response in nanoplasmonic structures are included. The application areas covered include plasmonics, metamaterials, photonic crystals, dielectric waveguides, fiber lasers. The chapters give a representative survey of the corresponding area.

Ultrafast Phenomena XV presents the latest advances in ultrafast science, including both ultrafast optical technology and the study of ultrafast phenomena. It covers picosecond, femtosecond, and attosecond processes relevant to applications in physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering. Ultrafast technology has a profound impact in a wide range of applications, among them biomedical imaging, chemical dynamics, frequency standards, materials processing, and ultrahigh-speed communications. This book summarizes the results presented at the 15th International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena and provides an up-to-date view of this important and rapidly advancing field.

Leading scientists discuss the most recent physical and experimental results in the physics of Bose-Einstein condensate theory, the theory of nonlinear lattices (including quantum and nonlinear lattices), and nonlinear optics and photonics. Classical and quantum aspects of the dynamics of nonlinear waves are considered. The contributions focus on the Gross-Pitaevskii equation and on the quantum nonlinear Schr dinger equation. Recent experimental results on atomic condensates and hydrogen bonded systems are reviewed. Particular attention is given to nonlinear matter waves in periodic potential.

This thesis reports on major steps towards the realization of scalable quantum networks. It addresses the experimental implementation of a deterministic interaction mechanism between flying optical photons and a single trapped atom. In particular, it demonstrates the nondestructive detection of an optical photon. To this end, single rubidium atoms are trapped in a three-dimensional optical lattice at the center of an optical cavity in the strong coupling regime. Full control over the atomic state - its position, its motion, and its electronic state - is achieved with laser beams applied along the resonator and from the side. When faint laser pulses are reflected from the resonator, the combined atom-photon state acquires a state-dependent phase shift. In a first series of experiments, this is employed to nondestructively detect optical photons by measuring the atomic state after the reflection process. Then, quantum bits are encoded in the polarization of the laser pulse and in the Zeeman state of the atom. The state-dependent phase shift mediates a deterministic universal quantum gate between the atom and one or two successively reflected photons, which is used to generate entangled atom-photon, atom-photon-photon, and photon-photon states out of separable input states.

This book covers both experimental and theoretical aspects of nanoscale light scattering and surface roughness. Topics include: spherical particles located on a substrate; surface and buried interface roughness; surface roughness of polymer thin films; magnetic and thermal fluctuations at planar surfaces; speckle patterns; scattering of electromagnetic waves from a metal; multiple wavelength light scattering; nanoroughness standards.

Neutron spin echo (NSE) spectroscopy is the highest energy resolution neutron scattering technique available for examining a large area (in time and space) in condensed matter physics. This broad dynamic and spatial range is extensively exploited in the study of a wide range of scientific problems ranging from the dynamics of glasses, polymer melts, complex fluids and microemulsions to the elementary excitations in superfluid 4He and to ferromagnets and spin glasses. This book reviews the current status and future prospects in NSE spectroscopy describing the method, latest instrumentation and also the use of NSE in fundamental, hard- and soft-matter science. It provides first-hand information for researchers working in the fields touched by NSE. In addition, young researchers, PhD students and graduates interested in the method will obtain a comprehensive overview and guidelines to implementing the NSE technique.

At the heart of this thesis is the young field of free electron laser science, whose experimental and theoretical basics are described here in a comprehensible manner. Extremely bright and ultra short pulses from short wavelength free-electron lasers (FELs) have recently opened the path to new fields of research. The x-ray flashes transform all matter into highly excited plasma states within femtoseconds, while their high spatial and temporal resolution allows the study of fast processes in very small structures. Even imaging of single molecules may be within reach if ultrafast radiation damage can be understood and brought under control. Atomic clusters have proven to be ideal model systems for light-matter interaction studies in all wavelength regimes, being size scalable, easy-to-produce gas phase targets with a simple structure. With FELs, "single cluster imaging and simultaneous ion spectroscopy" makes possible experiments under extremely well defined initial conditions, because the size of the cluster and the FEL intensity can be extracted from the scattering images. For the first time large xenon clusters up to micron radius were generated. Their single cluster scattering images were analyzed for cluster morphology and traces of the ultrafast plasma built-up during the femtosecond FEL pulse. The simultaneously measured single cluster ion spectra yield unprecedented insight into the ion dynamics following the interaction. The results will feed both future experimental effort and theoretical modeling.