Laser Control of Atoms and Molecules

The text treats laser lights as a universal tool to control matter at atomic and molecular level, one of the most exciting applications of lasers. Lasers can heat mater, cool atoms to ultra-low temperatures where they show quantum collective behaviour, and can act selectively on specific atoms and molecules for their detection and separation.

Professor Vladilen Letokhov, Institute of Spectroscopy, Troitsk, and Russian Academy of Sciences.



Professor Letokhov was born in Irkutsk, Siberia (1939). He was educated at the prestigious Moscow Physical-Technical Institute (1957-1963).
He graduated in P.N.Lebedev Physical Institute in Moscow with Nobel Prize Winner Professor N.Basov. Since 1970 (to present) he has been Head of Laser Spectroscopy Laboratory (later Department) and Associate Director for research (1971-1989) at the Institute of Spectroscopy, Troitsk, and a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Awards: Lenin Prize for science and technology (1978);
State Prize for science and technology (2002);
European Physical Society Quantum Electronics Prize
(1998) etc.