This book brings together in a single volume the most up-to-date results in the field presented at Ultrafast Optics and Applications of High Field and Short Wavelength Sources 2005. The volume contains keynote and invited contributions together with carefully selected regular contributions. The book aims at the highest level of presentation to make it useful as a reference for those working in the field.

A comprehensive treatment of ultrafast optics This book fills the need for a thorough and detailed account of ultrafast optics. Written by one of the most preeminent researchers in the field, it sheds new light on technology that has already had a revolutionary impact on precision frequency metrology, high-speed electrical testing, biomedical imaging, and in revealing the initial steps in chemical reactions. Ultrafast Optics begins with a summary of ultrashort laser pulses and their practical applications in a range of real-world settings. Next, it reviews important background material, including an introduction to Fourier series and Fourier transforms, and goes on to cover: Principles of mode-locking Ultrafast pulse measurement methods Dispersion and dispersion compensation Ultrafast nonlinear optics: second order Ultrafast nonlinear optics: third order Mode-locking: selected advanced topics Manipulation of ultrashort pulses Ultrafast time-resolved spectroscopy Terahertz time-domain electromagnetics Professor Weiner's expertise and cutting-edge research result in a book that is destined to become a seminal text for engineers, researchers, and graduate students alike.

The papers in this volume cover the major areas of research activity in the field of ultrafast optics at the present time, and they have been selected to provide an overview of the current state of the art. The purview of the field is the methods for the generation, amplification, and characterization of electromagnetic pulses with durations from the pieo-to the attosecond range, as well as the technical issues surrounding the application of these pulses in physics, chemistry, and biology. The contributions were solicited from the participants in the Ultrafast Optics IV Conference, held in Vienna, Austria, in June 2003. The purpose of the conference is similar to that of this book: to provide a forum for the latest advances in ultrafast optical technology. Ultrafast light sources provide a means to observe and manipulate events on the scale of atomic and molecular dynamics. This is possible either through appropriate shaping of the time-dependent electrie field, or through the ap plication of fields whose strength is comparable to the binding forces of the electrons in atoms and molecules. Recent advances discussed here include the generation of pulses shorter than two optical cycles, and the ability to measure and to shape them in all degrees of freedom with unprecedented 2 21 2 precision, and to amplify them to the Zettawatt/cm (10 W /cm ) range.

Focusing on nanophotonics, which has been proposed by M. Ohtsu in 1993, this volume begins with theories for operation principles of characteristic nanophotonic devices and continues with novel optical near field phenomena for fabricating nanophotonic devices. Further topics include: unique properties of optical near fields and their applications to operating nanophotonic devices; and nanophotonic information and communications systems that can overcome the integration-density limit with ultra-low-power operation as well as unique functionalities. Taken as a whole, this overview will be a valuable resource for engineers and scientists working in the field of nano-electro-optics.

The primary goal of this text book is to ensure that any physical science student, even one who has never heard of the subject, should be able to learn what ultrafast spectroscopy is, why optics related to the subject requires special attention, how to use the basic ideas of the subject in laboratory-based ultrafast spectroscopy experiments, how to interpret the experimental observations and so on. This book gives a more than adequate introduction to mathematical representation of an ultrafast pulse, chirp, time-band width product, nonlinear optical effects, dispersion effects, construction of ultrafast laser, ultrafast measurement techniques and different ultrafast processes of chemical interest.

Devoted to novel optical measurement techniques that are applied both in industry and life sciences, this book contributes a fresh perspective on the development of modern optical sensors. These sensors are often essential in detecting and controlling parameters that are important for both industrial and biomedical applications. The book provides easy access for beginners wishing to gain familiarity with the innovations of modern optics.

Keeping abreast of the latest techniques and applications, this new edition of the standard reference and graduate text on laser spectroscopy has been completely revised and expanded. While the general concept is unchanged, the new edition features a broad array of new material. This new edition has been completely revised, especially the chapters on non linear spectroscopy, ion trapping, ultra short laser pulses and new developments. Fifty new figures illustrate the newest developments and results. The author is one of the most renowned experts in this area and no other book with this broad scope is available.

This volume describes modern developments in reflective, refractive and diffractive optics for short wavelength radiation. It also covers recent theoretical approaches to modelling and ray-tracing the x-ray and neutron optical systems. It is based on the joint research activities of specialists in x-ray and neutron optics, working together under the framework of the European Programme for Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST, Action P7) in the period 2002-2006.

Femtosecond optics involves the study of ultra-short pulses of light. Understanding the behaviour of these light pulses makes it possible to develop ultra-fast lasers with a wide range of applications in such areas as medical imaging, chemical analysis and micro-machining. Written by two leading experts in the field, this book reviews the theory of the interaction of femtosecond light pulses with matter, femtosecond lasers and laser systems, and the principles of femtosecond coherent spectroscopy of impurity amorphous media. - reviews the theory of the interaction of femtosecond light pulses with matter - Discusses femtosecond lasers and laser systems - Considers the principles of femtosecond coherent spectroscopy of impurity amorphous media