Atomic and Laser Spectroscopy

Intended mainly for experimentalists, this book discusses in detail the many advances in optical physics made over the last 25 years. The author uses classical or semi-classical calculations wherever possible to introduce the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with free atoms. Topics discussed include the spontaneous emission of radiation; stimulated transitions and the properties of gas and tunable dye lasers; and the physics and applications of resonance fluorescence, optical double resonance, optical pumping, and atomic beam magnetic resonance experiments. Favorably reviewed in its hardcover edition, physicists from a variety of fields will find this reissue as timely now as it was when first published in 1977.