copyright -- front matter -- Acknowledgements -- Preface -- table of contents -- body -- 1. Basic Physics of Lasers -- 1.1. SPONTANEOUS AND STIMULATED TRANSITIONS. EINSTEIN COEFFICIENTS. PROPERTIES OF STIMULATED RADIATION -- 1.2. LASER OPERATION BASICS -- 1.3. POPULATION INVERSION -- 1.4. AMPLIFICATION AND SATURATION -- REFERENCES 1 -- 2. Distribution of the Electromagnetic Field in the Optical Resonator -- 2.1. LONGITUDINAL MODES -- 2.2. QUALITY FACTOR OF RESONATOR RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LINEWIDTH OF STIMULATED EMISSION AND RESONATOR QUALITY FACTOR -- 2.3. TRANSVERSE MODES -- REFERENCES 2 -- 3. Generation of Ultrashort Laser Pulses -- 3.1. MODELOCKING. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LINEWIDTH OF STIMULATED EMISSION AND PULSE DURATION -- 3.2. METHODS OF MODELOCKING. ACTIVE AND PASSIVE MODELOCKING -- 3.3. Q-SWITCHING -- 3.4. CAVITY DUMPING -- REFERENCES 3 -- 4. Lasers -- 4.1. RUBY LASER -- 4.2. MOLECULAR GAS LASERS FROM THE INFRARED REGION -- 4.2.1. Lasers Operating on Rotational Transitions -- 4.2.2. Lasers Operating on Vibrational-Rotational Transitions: CO2 and CO -- 4.3. CHEMICAL LASERS -- 4.4. SOLID-STATE LASERS -- 4.4.1. Neodymium Laser and other Rare-Earth Lasers -- 4.4.2. Solid- State Tunable Lasers (Vibronic Lasers) -- 4.4.3. Fiber Lasers -- 4.5. GAS LASERS FOR THE VISIBLE RANGE -- 4.5.1. Helium-Neon Laser -- 4.5.2. Ion-Gas Lasers. Argon and Krypton Lasers -- 4.6. LIQUID DYE LASERS -- 4.7. GAS LASERS FOR THE ULTRAVIOLET RANGE -- 4.7.1. Excimer Lasers -- 4.7.2. Nitrogen Laser -- 4.8. DIODE LASERS -- 4.8.1. Intrinsic Semiconductors. Doped Semiconductors. Junction -- 4.8.2. Diode Lasers -- REFERENCES 4 -- 5. Nonlinear Optics -- 5.1. SECOND ORDER NONLINEAR PHENOMENA -- 5.2. PHASE MATCHING METHODS -- 5.3. PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF THE SECOND HARMONIC GENERATION -- 5.3.1. SHG for Pico- and Femtosecond Pulses -- 5.4. PARAMETRIC OSCILLATOR.

5.5. THE THIRD ORDER NONLINEAR PROCESSES -- 5.5.1. Stimulated Raman Scattering -- 5.5.2. Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS) -- 5.5.3. The Other Techniques of Nonlinear Stimulated Raman Scattering -- 5.6. NONLINEAR DISPERSION PHENOMENA AFFECTING PICOSECOND AND FEMTOSECOND PULSE DURATION - GROUP VELOCITY DISPERSION (GVD) AND SELF PHASE MODULATION (SPM) -- REFERENCES 5 -- 6. Pulse Amplification -- 6.1. INTRODUCTION -- 6.2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND -- 6.3. DESIGN FEATURES OF AMPLIFIERS -- 6.4. REGENERATIVE AMPLIFIER -- 6.4.1. The Pockels Cell -- 6.5. CHIRPED PULSE AMPLIFICATION (CPA) -- REFERENCES 6 -- 7. The Measurement of Ultrashort Laser Pulses -- 7.1. AUTOCORRELATION TECHNIQUES -- 7.2. FROG TECHNIQUES -- REFERENCES 7 -- 8. Selected Methods of Time-Resolved Laser Spectroscopy -- 8.1. FLUORESCENCE DECAY -- 8.2. THE PUMP-PROBE METHOD -- 8.3. CARS AS A TIME-RESOLVED METHOD -- 8.4. PHOTON ECHO -- 8.4.1. Spin Echo in NMR -- 8.4.2. Optical Resonance -- 8.4.3. Quantum-Classical Description of the Photon Echo -- 8.4.4. Practical Advantages of Photon Echo Applications -- 8.5. QUANTUM BEATS -- 8.5.1. Quantum Description -- 8.5.2. Examples of Quantum Beats Applications -- REFERENCES 8 -- 9. Ultrafast Chemical and Physical Processes -- 9.1. FEMTOCHEMISTRY. WAVE PACKET DYNAMICS. THEORY -- 9.2. FEMTOCHEMISTRY. SPECTROSCOPIC APPLICATION OF WAVE ..PACKET DYNAMICS -- 9.2.1. Excited-State Vibrational Coherence -- 9.2.2. Vibrational Coherence in ''Reacting'' Excited-State Molecules. Bacteriorhodopsin -- 9.2.3. H-Bond Dynamics -- 9.3. PHOTOISOMERIZATION -- 9.3.1. Photoisomerization of cis- and trans- Stilbene -- 9.4. INTRAMOLECULAR CHARGE TRANSFER -- 9.5. MOLECULAR REORIENTATIONS -- 9.6. INVESTIGATION OF INTERMEDIATES -- 9.6.1. Photoreduction -- 9.6.2. Carbenes -- 9.6.3. Excited-State Proton Transfer -- 9.7. ULTRAFAST COHERENT SPECTROSCOPY. VIBRATIONAL DYNAMICS.

9.7.1. Energy Relaxation T1, and Phase Relaxation T2 -- 9.8. DYNAMICS OF AN EXCESS ELECTRON. SOLVATED ELECTRON -- 9.9. EXCESS ELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY -- REFERENCES 9 -- 10. Lasers in Medicine -- 10.1. INTRODUCTION -- 10.2. PHOTOCHEMICAL INTERACTIONS -- 10.2.1. Photodynamic Therapy -- 10.2.2. Sensitizers -- 10.2.3. Photochemistry of Sensitizers -- 10.3. THERMAL INTERACTION -- 10.4. PHOTOABLATION -- 10.5. PLASMA-INDUCED ABLATION -- 10.6. APPLICATION OF LASERS IN MEDICINE -- REFERENCES 10 -- 11. Potential Hazards Associated with Inappropriate Use of Lasers -- 11.1. RADIATION HAZARDS -- 11.1.1. Eye Hazards -- 11.1.2. Skin Hazard -- 11.2. OTHER HAZARDS -- 12. Detectors -- 12.1. DETECTORS TYPES AND DETECTORS CHARACTERIZING PARAMETERS -- 12.2. PHOTOEMISSIVE DETECTORS -- 12.3. SEMICONDUCTOR DETECTORS -- 12.4. MULTICHANNEL DETECTORS PDA AND CCD -- REFERENCES 12 -- index.