Laser Control of Atoms & Molecules

This text treats laser light as a universal tool to control matter at the atomic and molecular level, one of the most exciting applications of lasers. Lasers can heat matter, 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.

Vladilen Letokhov was born in Irkutsk, Siberia (1939). Educated in the prestigious Moscow Physical-Technical Institute (1957-1963). Graduated in P.N.Lebedev Physical Institute in Moscow with Nobel Prize Winner Professor N.Basov. From 1970 Letokhov was the Head of Laser Spectroscopy Laboratory and associate director for research (1971-1989) of the Institute of Spectroscopy, Russian Academy of Sciences. Was most recently Professor at the Moscow Physical-Technical Institute.

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