Shows how nonlinear phenomena play a more and more important role for everybody using the laser "as a tool," making it unique in this respect.

Provides a basic knowledge of modern lasers, as well as the principles of nonlinear optical spectroscopy (and an exhaustive list of 4000 references)

From first-edition reviews: "Almost a handbook, reviewing in a single author's voice the basic properties of light and its linear and nonlinear interactions with matter, both in the absence and in the presence of absorption." Physics Today