Covering high-energy ultrafast amplifiers and solid-state, fiber, and diode lasers, this reference examines recent developments in high-speed laser technology. It presents a comprehensive survey of ultrafast laser technology, its applications, and future trends in various scientific and industrial areas. Topics include: micromachining applications for metals, dielectrics, and biological tissue; advanced electronics and semiconductor processing; optical coherence tomography; multiphoton microscopy; optical sampling and scanning; THz generation and imaging; optical communication systems; absolute phase control of optical signals; and more.

This textbook presents a comprehensive introduction to ultrafast laser physics with a keen awareness of the needs of graduate students. It is self-contained and ready to use for both ultrafast laser courses and background for experimental investigation in the lab. The book starts with an advanced introduction to linear and nonlinear pulse propagation, details Q-switching and modelocking and goes into detail while explaining ultrashort pulse generation and measurement. Finally, the characterization of the laser signals is illustrated, and a broad range of applications presented. A multitude of worked examples and problems with solutions help to deepen the reader's understanding.

In this monograph, the authors address the physics and engineering together with the latest achievements of efficient and compact ultrafast lasers based on novel quantum-dot structures and devices. Their approach encompasses a broad range of laser systems, while taking into consideration not only the physical and experimental aspects but also the much needed modeling tools, thus providing a holistic understanding of this hot topic.

Over the past few decades, the rapid development of ultrafast lasers, such as femtosecond lasers and picosecond lasers, has opened up new avenues for material processing due to their unique features such as ultrashort pulse width and extremely high peak intensity. These techniques have become a common tool for micro- and nanoprocessing of a variety

The laser has revolutionized many areas of science and society, providing bright and versatile light sources that transform the ways we investigate science and enables trillions of dollars of commerce. Now a second laser revolution is underway with pulsed petawatt-class lasers (1 petawatt: 1 million billion watts) that deliver nearly 100 times the total world's power concentrated into a pulse that lasts less than one-trillionth of a second. Such light sources create unique, extreme laboratory conditions that can accelerate and collide intense beams of elementary particles, drive nuclear reactions, heat matter to conditions found in stars, or even create matter out of the empty vacuum. These powerful lasers came largely from U.S. engineering, and the science and technology opportunities they enable were discussed in several previous National Academies' reports. Based on these advances, the principal research funding agencies in Europe and Asia began in the last decade to invest heavily in new facilities that will employ these high-intensity lasers for fundamental and applied science. No similar programs exist in the United States. Opportunities in Intense Ultrafast Lasers assesses the opportunities and recommends a path forward for possible U.S. investments in this area of science.

Bringing together contributions from leading experts in the field, this book reviews laser processing concepts that allow the structuring of material beyond optical limits, and methods that facilitate direct observation of the underlying mechanisms by exploring direct structuring and self-organization phenomena. The capacity to nanostructure material using ultrafast lasers lays the groundwork for the next generation of flexible and precise material processing tools. Rapid access to scales of 100 nm and below in two and three dimensions becomes a factor of paramount importance to engineer materials and to design innovative functions. To reflect the dynamic nature of the field at all levels from basic science to applications, the book is divided into three parts, Fundamental Processes, Concepts of Extreme Nanostructuring, and Applications, each of which is comprehensively covered. This book will be a useful resource for graduate students and researchers in laser processing, materials engineering, and nanoscience.

Kelley (Jefferson Lab, US), Kreutz (U. of Technology Aachen, Germany), Li (Panasonic Boston Laboratory, US), and Pique (Naval Research Laboratory, US) present 29 papers from the November/December 2004 Materials Research Society symposium of the same name, organized with the goal of bringing together researchers exploring the use of ultrafast lasers for materials synthesis, processing, and analysis. The sessions of the symposium covered fundamental science and technology of ultrafast lasers, materials characterization, laser ablation and deposition, micromachining and nanostructuring, synthesis of nanoparticles and nanowiries, and direct-writing of waveguides in transparent materials. Specific topics selected from the ten invited papers include phase change mechanisms in pulsed laser-matter interaction, high power THz generation form sub- ps bunches of relativistic electrons, micro- and nano-structured optical fibers as artificial media for amplification of light, modification and color markings in glasses by UV laser radiation, and generation of new nanomaterials by interfering femtosecond laser processing. Annotation :2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

The acronym Laser is derived from Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. With the advent of the ruby laser in 1960, there has been tremendous research activity in developing novel, more versatile and more efficient laser sources or devices, as lasers applications are ubiquitous. Today, lasers are used in many areas of human endeavor and are routinely employed in a host of diverse fields: various branches of engineering, microelectronics, biomedical, medicine, dentistry, surgery, surface modification, to name just a few. In this book (containing 10 chapters) we have focused on application of lasers in adhesion and related areas. The topics covered include: Topographical modification of polymers and metals by laser ablation to create superhydrophobic surfaces. Non-ablative laser surface modification. Laser surface modification to enhance adhesion. Laser surface engineering of materials to modulate their wetting behavior. Laser surface modification in dentistry. Laser polymer welding. Laser based adhesion testing technique to measure thin film-substrate interface toughness. Laser surface removal of hard thin ceramic coatings. Laser removal of particles from surfaces. Laser induced thin film debonding for micro-device fabrication applications.

Many bottom-up and top-down techniques for nanomaterial and nanostructure generation have enabled the development of applications in nanoelectronics and nanophotonics. Handbook of Nanophysics: Nanoelectronics and Nanophotonics explores important recent applications of nanophysics in the areas of electronics and photonics. Each peer-reviewed c