Exploring The World With The Laser

This edition contains carefully selected contributions by leading scientists in high-resolution laser spectroscopy, quantum optics and laser physics. Emphasis is given to ultrafast laser phenomena, implementations of frequency combs, precision spectroscopy and high resolution metrology. Furthermore, applications of the fundamentals of quantum mechanics are widely covered. This book is dedicated to Nobel prize winner Theodor W. Hänsch on the occasion of his 75th birthday. The contributions are reprinted from a topical collection published in Applied Physics B, 2016.

Prof. Dr. Tilman Esslinger

Head of the Quantum Optics Group, ETH Zürich, Switzerland

Research area: Quantum gases, quantum simulation, quantum optics

Major scientific accomplishments: first experimental realization of a Fermi-Hubbard model and the Mott insulator using a fermionic quantum gas trapped in an optical lattice, measurement of the critical exponent of the correlation length in a Bose gas, first realization of a one-dimensional atomic quantum gas, cavity QED and cavity opto-mechanics with Bose- Einstein condensates, observation of the Dicke quantum phase transition, optical lattices with Dirac points, realization of the topological Haldane model, observation of quantized conductance in a Fermi gas.

Prof. Dr. Dieter Meschede

Head of Quantum Technology group at University Bonn, Germany

Editor-in-Chief of the journal Applied Physics B – Lasers and Optics,

Research interests: Quantum technologies with single neutral atoms, few-atom quantum systems, discrete-time quantum walks, cavity QED, digital quantum simulators

Prof. Dr. Thomas Udem

Permanent research associate at the Laser spectroscopy division / Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics / Garching and Institute of Physics Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany.

Research interests: Ultraprecise laser spectroscopy, Frequency combs in the extreme ultraviolet, High harmonic generation, Atomic physics with ion traps, Precision spectroscopy of single atoms, hydrogen and hoydrogen-like systems, Test of fundamental laws, Search for slowly varying constants, Frequency combs infrared and extreme ultraviolet, Ion traps, Intra-cavity high harmonic generation