Foundations of Laser Spectroscopy

by Stig Stenholm

Overview

One of the first texts to offer a simple presentation of the theoretical foundations of steady-state laser spectroscopy, this volume is geared toward beginning theorists and experimentalists. It assists students in applying theoretical ideas to actual calculations in laser spectroscopy with a systematic series of examples and exercises. Starting at an elementary level, students gradually build up their practical skills with demonstrations of how simplified theoretical models relate to experimentally observable quantities. Detailed derivations offer students the opportunity to work out all results for themselves.The first chapter introduces background material on electrodynamics and quantum mechanics, with an emphasis on the density matrix, its equation of motion, and its interpretation. Chapter 2 derives the response of the medium to strong fields. After mastering these two parts, students can proceed to later chapters in any order they wish. Succeeding chapters cover the physical basis of laser operation, applications central to laser spectroscopy, the inclusion of laser fluctuations into the theory, and field quantization. Numerous references, which appear in separate sections, form a concise history of the field and its most noteworthy developments.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780486150376
Publisher:	Dover Publications
Publication date:	08/23/2012
Series:	Dover Books on Physics
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	13 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Stig Stenholm

Table of Contents

Errata1. The Components of Theoretical Spectroscopy 1.1. Introduction 1.2. Classical Description of Radiation Fields 1.3. The Quantum Description of Matter 1.4. The Density Matrix 1.5. Physical Properties of the Density Matrix 1.6. Relaxation Terms in the Density Matrix Equation of Motion 1.7. Coherence and Dephasing 1.8. Adiabatic Elimination Procedures 1.9. Effects of Atomic Motion 1.10. Time-Dependent and Steady State Spectroscopy 1.11. Comments and References2. Physical Effects of Strong Fields on Matter 2.1. The Basic Concepts of Light-Induced Effects on Atomic Matter 2.2. Stationary Two-Level Atoms in a Standing Wave 2.3. Strong Field Effects in Radio-Frequency Spectroscopy 2.4. Moving Atoms in a Traveling Wave 2.5. Moving Atoms in a Standing Wave 2.6. Correction Terms for Moving Atoms 2.7. Strong Signal Theory for Moving Atoms 2.8. Comments and References3. Foundation of Laser Theory 3.1. General Conditions for Laser Operation 3.2. The Traveling Wave Amplifier 3.3. The Traveling Wave Laser 3.4. More General Laser Theory 3.5. The Standing Wave Laser 3.6. A Laser with a Saturable Absorber 3.7. Comments and References4. Topics in Laser Spectroscopy 4.1. Introduction 4.2. Saturation Spectroscopy 4.2.a. General Ideas 4.2.b. The Theoretical Description 4.2.c. Comments and References 4.3. The Three-Level System 4.3.a. General Remarks 4.3.b. The Theoretical Description 4.3.c. Doppler-Free Two-Photon Spectroscopy 4.3.d. The Two-Photon Transition Near Resonance 4.3.e. Saturation Effects on the Probe 4.3.f. Comments and References 4.4 Coherence Phenomena and Level-Crossing Signals 4.4.a. Background 4.4.b. General Considerations 4.4.c. The Perturbation Calculation 4.4.d. Some Cases of Physical Interest 4.4.e. Level Crossing in a Lower Level 4.4.f. Comments and References 4.5. Multiphoton Processes 4.5.a. Background Information 4.5.b. The Steady State Situation 4.5.c. The Effective Two-Level System 4.5.d. The Harmonic Oscillator 4.5.e. Comments and References5. Effects of Field Fluctuations on Spectroscopy 5.1. Stochastic Behavior of Physical Parameters 5.2. Theory of Phase Noise 5.2.a. Phase Noise in Linear Spectroscopy 5.2.b. Phase Noise in the Two-Level System 5.3. Amplitude Fluctuations in a Single-Mode Laser 5.3.a. The Two-Level System 5.3.b. The Three-Level System with a Probe 5.4. The Free-Running Multimode Laser 5.4.a. Statistics of Multimode Light 5.4.b. The Two-Level System 5.5. Comments and References6. Elements of Electromagnetic Field Quantization 6.1. Introduction 6.2. Decomposition of the Classical Fields 6.3. Quantization of the Field 6.4. Some Perturbation Calculations 6.5. Spontaneous Decay Terms for the Density Matrix 6.6. Resonance Fluorescence in a Strong Field 6.7. Comments and ReferencesReferencesIndex