The book presents an advanced tool for experimentalists using spectral lineshapes for diagnostics of laboratory or astrophysical plasmas, and for theorists helping the experimentalists in interpreting the experimental line profiles. It significantly expands the scope of parameters of plasmas and/or fields in it that can be measured. For some parameters, the book presents new, more advanced diagnostic methods than the methods covered in the previous books.

The book presents the following counterintuitive theoretical results breaking several paradigms of quantum mechanics and providing alternative interpretations of some important phenomena in atomic and molecular physics. 1) Singular solutions of the Schroedinger and Dirac equations should not have been always rejected: they can explain the experimental high-energy tail of the linear momentum distribution in the ground state of hydrogenic atoms. Application: a unique way to test intimate details of the nuclear structure by performing atomic (rather than nuclear) experiments and calculations. 2) Charge exchange is not really an inherently quantal phenomenon, but rather has classical roots. Application: continuum lowering in plasmas. 3) The most challenging problem of classical physics that led to the development of quantum mechanics - the failure to explain the stability of atoms - can be solved within a classical formalism that has its roots in Dirac's works. The underlying physics can be interpreted as a non-Einsteinian time dilation. 4) In two-electron atoms/ions, the spin-spin interaction (singular in its nature), usually considered unimportant, makes a significant contribution to the binding energy. 5) In magnetized plasmas the standard Inglis-Teller concept, concerning the number of observed lines in spectral series of hydrogen, breaks down. Application: new plasma diagnostic. 6) Extrema in transition energies of molecules/quasimiolecules can result in dips (rather than usually considered satellites) within spectral lines. Application: the experimental determination of rates of charge exchange between multicharged ions - important for magnetic fusion in Tokamaks, for population inversion in the soft x-ray and VUV ranges, for ion storage devices, and for astrophysics.

Plasma Spectroscopy systematically develops the foundations of spectroscopy for plasmas subjected to quasi-monochromatic electric fields in the microwave or visible range. Such fields may be due to longitudinal Langmuir waves or low hybrid oscillations, which are excited in pulsed discharged or by high-current beams of charged particles. Even more important are the transverse fields present in the plasmas of tokamaks, laser fusion, and technological microwave discharges. This book is intended for researchers dealing with plasma spectroscopy, plasma diagnostics, high frequency and microwave discharges, laser induced discharges, particle and laser-beam interactions with plasmas, controlled fusion, and ionospheric and astrophysical plasmas. It describes methods for measuring the field and plasma parameters and discusses their practical application. It also presents new results on nonpertubative analysis of the interaction of quantum systems with a strong radiation field.