SHORT PULSE LASER INTERACTIONS WITH MATTER
An Introduction

by Paul Gibbon (Research Centre Jülich, Germany)

Table of Contents (50k)
Preface (48k)
Chapter 1: Introduction: Historical Background (48k)

This book represents the first comprehensive treatment of the subject, covering the theoretical principles, present experimental status and important applications of short-pulse laser-matter interactions.

Femtosecond lasers have undergone dramatic technological advances over the last fifteen years, generating a whole host of new research activities under the theme of “ultrafast science”. The focused light from these devices is so intense that ordinary matter is torn apart within a few laser cycles. This book takes a close-up look at the exotic physical phenomena which arise as a result of this new form of “light-matter” interaction, covering a diverse set of topics including multiphoton ionization, rapid heatwaves, fast particle generation and relativistic self-channeling. These processes are central to a number of exciting new applications in other fields, such as microholography, optical particle accelerators and photonuclear physics.

Repository for numerical models described in Chapter 6 can be found at http://www.fz-juelich.de/zam/cams/plasma/SPLIM/.

 
Contents:
  • Introduction: Historical Background
  • Interaction with Single Atoms
  • Interaction with Single Electrons
  • Laser Propagation in Underdense Plasmas
  • Interaction with Solids: Overdense Plasmas
  • Numerical Simulation of Short Pulse Laser Interactions
  • Applications of Short-Pulse Laser-Matter Interactions
 
Readership: Advanced undergraduates, graduates, researchers and non-specialist scientists using femtosecond lasers in science and industry.
 
 
328pp    Pub. date: Sep 2005  
ISBN:   978-1-86094-135-1
1-86094-135-4
   US$55 / £33