Lasers and Non-Linear Optics

The Book is addressed to the advanced undergraduate and graduate students interested in lasers. It encompasses the wide area joining laser physics and non-linear optics. The earlier chapters give a concise account of basic physics on which the operation of lasers depends. Quantum mechanical treatment of the interaction of radiation with an atom and of some important optical processes is presented. This prepares the way, by easy stages, for the formal development of lasers. The advances in laser physics over the last twenty-five years are described. The material in non-linear optics scattered in various journals is collected in a compact and unified manner. Some research problems of current interest are discussed. The treatment is kept as simple as possible so that a graduate student should not have any difficulty with it. The book should help the reader to acquire new concepts and advanced methods in non-linear optics and give him a sort of overall perspective necessary to continue further independent research. The book should be useful to a variety of readers.IntroductionEinsteins Quantum Theory of RadiationInteraction of Radiation with MatterMasersTheory of Some Simple Optical ProcessesBasic Principles of LasersSolid State LasersGas LasersSemiconductor LasersLiquid, Dye and Chemical LasersDynamics of the Laser Processes and Advances in Laser PhysicsHolographyNon-Linear OpticsMultiphoton ProcessesLaser SpectroscopySome Laser Induced PhenomenaApplications of Lasers