Book Reviews [Optica Applicata, Vol. 12, 1982, nr 3-42]

Optica Applicata, Vol. X II, N o . 3 -4 , 1982

Book reviews

H igh-P eak-Pow er Nd: Glass Laser System s

by Da v id C. Br o w n

Springer Series in Optical Sciences, Vol. 25

Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York 1981 [pp. i - ix +276 with Figures]

Looking fo r new inexpensive energy sources is a tim eliness question fo r humanity. But the most ra d ica l problem is looking fo r the methods o f performing a con trolled thermo­ nuclear reaction.

The works in th is range have lasted fo r as long as nearly 30 years qnd dealt with producing and sustaining the high temperature deuteron-tritium plasma, in which a fu­ sion occurs at s u ffic ie n tly high output. Soon a fte r the laser invention and a possi­ b i l i t y o f generating giant pulses o f very high peak powers, enabling us to obtain a huge concentration o f power fo r a volume unit, a new idea o f producing the plasma o rig ­ inated.

N.G. Basov and J.N. Dawson th e o re tic a lly revealed that such laser pulses may be used fo r heating a deuteron-tritium disc or sphere to temperatures required by the thermonuclear reaction . The experimental works which were started lead as early as in 1968 to the emission o f neutrons from the plasma produced by laser. The experiments te s tify in g the aptness o f the assumed hypotheses have stimulated further in vestigation s. So during the 70-t ie s we have witnessed the development o f research base o f lasers, which could be applied to produce the high temperature plasma. Among them the Ndtglass laser syBterns generating the pulses o f the peak powers o f the trawatts range have oc­ cupied a fron t place.

In the successive years the construction o f multiheaded and multibearaed s o lid state laser systems has been developed, such as Argus, Shiva, GDL, OMEGA, and D e lfin . In these systems the neodymium dopped glass was applied as the active material o f laser a m p lifiers. Also the works on pulse lasers o f high power on other active media, such as COg, iodin e, excimer lasers, e t c . , have been advanced.

Today, the euphoria o f the f i r s t investigation period has already passed. Ihe in ­ vestigations turned out to be extremely expensive and a perspective o f a p ra ctica l r e a l­ iza tio n o f a laser thermonuclear power station i s rather far-away. Thus only the wealthiest countries able to raise the weight o f in vestigation both in fin a n cia l and technological re la tio n remained on the f ie ld . These are p ra c tic a lly t*o countries!

500 Book r e v ie w s

I the United States o f America and the Soviet Union.

From the retrospective point o f view i t should be stated that laser technics, es­ p e c ia lly the s o lid -st a te lasers owe much to this p a rtic u la r lin e application. Theoret­ i c a l . experiment andt> above a l l . technological works have been advanoed. Though a f u l l ch aracteristic o f investigations which have been in itia te d in lasers or consider­ ably in te n sifie d by the works in the range o f high temperature plasma, exceeds the seheae o f th is elaboration, i t seems to be necessary to mention some o f themt in te r­ action of la s e r pulses radiation with active media (am plifying ones), nonlinear in te r­ action. shaping o f the time and special radiation ch a racteristic s, technical design |problems o f large systems and th eir protection against the re fle cted radiation and. f i r s t

o f a l l , the works in the range o f la s e r glass technology, transmission materials and d ie le o tr ic layers o f high thresholds o f damages due to ra d iatio n . The le v e l achieved im th is area re su lts undoubtedly from high concentration of finances and means fo r the investigation s on la se r miorofusian.

Such re fle c tio n s «serge in the course o f reading and presenting to our readers the .mew book by D.C. BROWN: High-Peak-Power NdiGlass la s e r Systems published by Springer

S e rie s in 'O p tic a l Sciences. The t i t l e o f the book does not leave room fo r any doubt; in r e a li t y i t re fe rs to the la se r systems applied to the plasma heating. A question a - r is e s whether i t was necessary to devote a monograph to a so exclusive and narrow sub­ je c t to which a very rich and extensive non-monographic lite ra t u re has been devoted. An answer to th is question i s not se lf-e v id e n t. Undoubtedly the number o f sp e c ia lists interested and working in th is f i e l d i s not too great and a documentation o f these works i s very extensive. None the less account should be taken that th is lite ra tu re con­ s is t s mainly o f laboratory and governments reports or conference proceedings. So these m aterials are not e a s ily a v aila b le and esp ecia lly fo r Polish readers may be d i f f i c u l t to obtain. Moreover,'the increasing a p p lic a b ilit y o f la s e r enlarges more and more the c i r c le o f people interested in the design o f large Ndtglass la se r system. This concerns to a high degree the probing of atmosphere by the pulses o f high power and in vestiga­ tions o f interaction (mainly nonlinear one) o f radiation with the matter.

A doubt which could a rise from the question, put above, i s settled by the author, what can be e a s ily seen even when th e'reader i s only s u p e rfic ia lly accquainted with the book reviewed. D.C. BROWN presents in i t physical p rin c ip le s, theory and re su lts o f experimental investigation s on fundamental phenomena occurring in high power la se r systems. These fundamental phenomena include nonlinear e ffe c t s , damage o f materials due to radiation and am plification o f la se r radiation pulses and o f a spontaneous emission as w e ll as p a ra sitic o s c illa tio n s . The author discusses, moreover, o p tica l and physical ch aracteristics o f various la se r glasses and gives a rich comparative material and a f u l l set o f numerical data necessary fo r design of a rb itra ry la s e r system in-which the neodymium dopped glass i s used as the active m a te ria l..

The book dealing with so many problems has a general and universal character. I t ex­ ceeds the narrow frames imposed by the already mentioned sp e c ific application o f laser system and should be considered as a monograph treating with the physical la se r p rin

-Book re v ie w s 501;

c ip lo a . For these reasons i t w i l l undoubtedly be in demand and read in lib r a r ie s · Let us present in more d e ta ils the contents o f the book, which i s formulated by the author in eight Chapterst

1. Glass laser Physics

2. O ptical and Physical Properties o f Laser Glasses 3· O ptical Pump Sources fo r NdtGlass Lasers

4. Amplified Spontaneous Emission and P arasitio O scillation s 5. Am plifiers fo r High-Peak-Power NdtGlass Laser Systems 6. Damage E ffe c ts in High-Peak Power NdtGlass Laser Systems 7. Nonlinear E ffects in High-Peak-Power NdtGlass Laser Systems 8. The Design o f High-Peak-Power NdtGlass Laser System

The f i r s t Chapter is devoted to the glass laser physics· The energy le v e l o f the neodymium ion is discussed taking in to considbration the transitions o f absorption ( o f pump) and fluorescence ( o f la s e r )·

Much space is given to discussion o f the influence o f environment on the ion acting on the p rin cip al glass parameters, such as the induced-emission cross-section, the r a tio o f the 1.06 pm to 0.88 pm fluorescence in ten sity (branching r a t io ) and also the t o t a l time o f population decay o f the metastable le v e l· While analysing the change o f population the author has taken in to consideration rad ia tive processes, multiphonon nonradiative processes and the energy transfer to other ions. Moreover, an elementary theory o f am plification o f the short (th re e -le v e l approximation) and long pulse (fo u r- le v e l approximation) was compared with the terminal l i f e time. For these systems the saturation energy and to ta l am plification was defined* F in a lly , the most important parameter o f laser glasses employed in the high-power systems, namely the to t a l re­ fra c tio n index o f tlie material and i t s dependence on the in ten sity o f the propagating lig h t wave, was defined and discussed. It s intensity-dependent part (nonlinear index) is responsible fo r the well-known selffocu ssin g e ffe c t lim itin g the peak-powers o f gen­ erated laser pulses. The nonlinear refra ctio n indices fo r lin ear and circu lar p olariza­ tion o f am plified radiation have been defined and determined·

I t is rather important that the la s t one be smaller· The numerical data given in the text present not only a rich comparative material but also are useful in engi­ neering p ra c tic e ·

In the second Chapter the author defines and discusses the main o p tica l and physical parameters (thermal, mechanical, and so on) o f the principal laser glasses available on the market. The remaining part o f the chapter is devoted to the figure o f merit fo r ­ malism . The author defines the general figu res o f merit o f rod, disc and a ctive-m irror am p lifiers. The fundamental figures o f merit o f laser glasses in the corresponding sets o f am plifiers are in d e ta il discussed, taking account only o f the a ctive cross- section , i . e . , am plification c o e ffic ie n t, and nonlinear e ffe c t s · From the la t t e r viewpoint other o p tic a l elements: lens, window, Faraday rotators and Pockels c e lls were also analysed. Likewise, other characteristics neglected in figu res o f merit and im­ portant in some cases, were s p e c ifie d ·

The third Chapter is devoted to simulating sources o f the glass laser system, i . e · , to the Xe flashlamps and th eir pulse forming network. Here, the analysis o f optimum

502 Book re v ie w s

adjustment o f supplying system to the flashlamp and the assesment o f the l i f e time on the Xe flashlampe (quantity o f fla sh es) should be noticed·

The fourth and f i f t h Chapters concern the optimization o f construction o f the Ndsglass laser a m p lifiers. The luminescence am plification and p ara sitic o s c illa tio n s which may appear in rods, discs and aotive-m irror am plifiers reduce considerably the am plifica­ tio n c o e ffic ie n ts in material and an fa r as possible should be lim ited and eliminated. These problems discussed in the fourth Chapter are analysed more thoroughly in the f i f t h one, where the theory, construction p rin cip les, results o f in vestigations and the char­ a c te ris tic s o f fundamental types o f am plifiers are given.

The sixth and seventh Chapters deal with problems which lim it the le v e l o f energy and peak-powers generated in the glass laser systems. These lim itation s resu lt mainly from radiation-damaged o p tic a l materials (Chapter 6 ). The author explains the mechanisms o f bulk and surface damages o f materials transmitting the high-power la ser pulfees. He also discusses the reasons fo r the damages o f thin layers. He quotes numerical data about the strength o f laser glasses and other materials commonly used in laser techniques.

The seventh Chapter deals with the central designing problem o f the am plifiers o f high-power la ser pulses, namely with nonlinear e ffe c t s . The existenee o f nonlinear re­ fra ctio n index is a reason fo r self-focu ssin g. This is the main phenomenon lim itin g the peak-power o f generated pulses. These problems are widely discussed. The author pres­ ents a general theory o f sefl-focu sain g including the theory o f small scale .self-focu ss­ ing and the whole beam self-focu ssin g as w ell as th e ir consequences resu ltin g fo r the la ser systems. The construction o f terawatts laser systems requires an exact f i l t e r ­ ing o f d istrib u tion o f the transverse laser beam from the rip p le s . Therefore sets o f spacial f i l t e r s occupy an important place in these systems. This also finds i t s reper­ cussion in the presented work.

The author dedicates the la s t Chapter 8 to the problems o f building the high-peak- power Nd:glass laser systems. Properly said these are remarks concerning the design o f these systems. This is understandable considering the importance o f th is problem.

The author assigns much place fo r discussion o f the major issues relevant to the design o f high-power la ser systems and to the costs o f systems production. The build­ ing costs o f these systems are so high that they should be· optimized lik e other par­ ameters o f the system; thus they enter in the laser design process.

Starting from these data the author discusses the design methodics fo r the Nd:glass high-power laser systems, including! fir s t-o r d e r design, design exploration and f u l l system simulation.

By presenting the above information about the book by D.C. BROWN and e sp ecia lly by indicatin g that his work r e a lly concerns the principles o f laser physics I hepe to en­ courage our readers to get acquainted with i t . The book does not belong to easy ones. The reader who wants to take advantage o f . i t should be prepared and have some pre­ req u isite knowledge about the subject. The lack o f denotation index and also re p e titio n o f denotations are additional shortcomings making the reading more d i f f i c u l t .

Book r e v ie w s ₅₀₃

I think th is book i s mainly directed to the engineers sp e c ia lis ts in the domain of lasers in gen eral, and in s o lid -st a te la s e rs , in p a rtic u la r· Of course, the s p e cial* is t s working in the doaaixv of la se r adcrofusian would o b lig a t o r ily read i t . The author . re fe rs to numerous lite ra tu re p ositions· According to mgr opinion a f u l l understanding o f the book requires that the reader be acquainted with some o f them.

This e ff o r t may be worth w h ile’, because o f the great range o f knowledge contained in the book. This i s the modern knowledge, re fe rrin g to the newest in vestigation s. There­ fore , I can also recommend this book to the students o f Physios Departments at Univer­ s it ie s and tO' the students o f Technical U n iversities·

Zdzisław Jankiewicz

Institute of Optoelectronics, Military Technical Academy, Warszawa, Poland

Optical Fiber System s and Their Components

Optical Sciences, Vol. 24

Springer-Verlag, Berlin, New York, Heidelberg 1981 [pp. i - viii + 246, with 125 Figs.]

The book reviewed being w ritten by three authors! A.B. S HARM A, S.J. HALME, and M.M. BUTUSOV was edited in the year 1981 by Springer-Verlag as the volume 24 o f series ed­ ited by T. Tamir. The book contains the follow in g Chapters!

1· Introduction

2. Generation, Modulation and Detection 3. Light Propagation in Waveguides 4. Components o f Waveguide Systems 5. Fiber Measurements

6. Fiber Optical Systems and Their Applications·

Besides the book o ffe rs 38 problems to be solved and rich lite ra tu re references* As the authors w rite in the face the aim o f the book is to provide an introductory m aterial to the engineers and physicists intending to work in this f i e l d . Thus, i t is a ty p ica l high le v e l university textbook o f didactic qu ality v e r ifie d p ra c tic a lly «at the Helsinki Technical U niversity.

Adam Smoliński

Institute of Electronics Fundamentals, Technical University of Warsaw, Warszawa, Poland

504 Book r e v ie w s

Color Measurement

Springer Series in Optical Sciences, Vol. 27

Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York 1981 ; [pp. i-x iii + 228, with 92 Figs, and 4 Colorplates]

The measurements o f physics phenomena even o f those evoked by simple physical stim uli like laudness, lightness and co lor are d i f f i c u l t , while the availa ble mathematical- physical models are s t i l l f a r from being p erfe ct. The d iffi c u lt i e s are enlarged also by the adaptation and the influence of the surrounding during the perception time. Obviously, a l l these troubles r e fe r to the measurement o f co lors. They were defined i n i t i a l l y by th e ir counterparts in the nature, lik e madder, in digo, henna, and so on. The next step was to create the color-order systems o f which the Newton cycle, Ostwald double ccne, any c y lin d ric a l arrangement o f Munsell gained the greatest fame. In the course of fu rth er development of-science and technology these systems become too prim­ it i v e , The elaboration o f the CIS system o f color measurement accepted in 1931 and based on the re su lts o f investigations in psycho-physiology o f seeing was a sig n ific a n t

success. This system was to some extent a mathematical simulator o f the human per­ ception apparatus. A synthesis of th is system has been described by the s t a f f o f the Color Measurement laboratory o f the Massachusetts Institu te o f Technology in the "Hand­ book o f Colorimetry", ed itet by Prof, ARTUR C, HARDY (published by Technology Press in

1936), One o f the co-authors o f this handbook was D.L. MACADAM who i s the author of the book being here reviewed. More than 45-year experience o f the author and also h is continuous profession al and p u b lic istic a c t iv ity in the f i e ld o f colorim etry, te s t ifie d by many publications i s a very good recommendation o f his q u a lific a tio n s and o f the high le v e l o f h is work.

In the f i r s t few chapters o f h is Color Measurement the author introduces the reader into the p rin cip le s of CIE-colorimetry o f ' 1931 completing them by p e r i f e r i a l informa­ tion about the lig h t sources and elements of spectroscopy. However, he ignores the elements o f co lor seeing physiology which seems to be natu rally connected with the topic and reduces maximally the mathematical apparatus p referrin g the descriptive meth­ od. Such an approach to the topic suggests that the book i s not intended fo r the ex­ perts in colorimetry but rather fo r the physicists and engineers wanting to be in­ troduced to the f i e ld o f colorimetry or to refresh th e ir knowledge in th is f i e ld and make i t up to date. . A good opportunity to re a liz e the la tt e r aim is offered by the second part o f the book which i s devoted - as i t was formulated by the author in the t i t l e - to Theme and Variations o f the main -subject which obviously i s the measure­ ment o f c o lo r s . In p a rtic u la r, the methods o f determination of tristim ulus values are reported among which the selected-ordinate method, and the Gaussian quadrature

Book re v ie w s 507 aptic terminals, interceptor constants, fovea l photoreceptors and pigment e p ith e lia l c e lls . F in a lly , a comparative study o f the morphology o f rods and cones is o f f e r e d . . Hie discussion here is by no means lim ited to pure structural description. Also, some information about the used experimental techniques may be found as w e ll as an idea o f functioning o f particu lar d e ta ils o f re tin a l photoreceptor is given · This chapter nlay be o f considerable assistance to those readers who have no background in anatomy and physiology o f the eye.

The whole Chapter 3 (w ritten by J.U. ENOCH and H.E* BEDELL) is devoted to a deep and m u ltila tera l discussion of the Stiles-Crawford (S -C ) e f fe c t in i t s basic formulation and many additional versions, e .g .t S-C e ffe c t o f the f i r s t and second kinds,' extra fo v e a l S-C e f f e c t , photopic S-C e f f e c t , transcent S-C e f f e c t , and the lik e fo r many vertebrates. The discussion starts with the p rin cip les o f S-C function measurements and the description o f the measurement setup developed in the author's lab and is f o l ­ lowed by broad analysis of experimental data obtained in a great v a riety c f experiments performed. This chapter is closed by concluding remarks about the significance o f the S-C e ffe c t .

In the follow in g Chapter 4 (J.M. ENOCH) the r e tin a l receptor orien tation is treated at length in the form o f a systematic discussion devoted to d irectio n a l s e n s itiv ity problems mentioned occasionally in the previous chapters. The h is to lo g ic a l, psycho­ physical and X-ray methods o f the re tin a l receptor orientation study are reported, the emphasis being put on the p o s s ib ilitie s o ffered by psychophysical techniques. These techniques are used to examine both the normal eyes o f many vertebrate species includ­ ing man ай w ell as to detect the changes in re tin a l receptor orientation from the nor­ mal an terior pointing position occurring due to d iffe r e n t kinds of pathology (the an­ te r io r pointing locus being a point near the centre o f the 'ix it pupil o f the e y e ). Also some recovery mechanisms o f disturbed anterior pointing orientation are experimentally studied, in p a rticu la r, the recovering ro le of the lig h t.

The next Chapter 5 (J.M. ENOCH and F.L. TOBEY, Jr) starts a broad discussion o f lig h t guiding a b ilit y o f re tin a l cones and rods. A review o f techniques and observations is given to show the contemporary p o s s ib ilitie s o f observation on retinae and single re­ ceptors. The very important problem o f sample preparation technique which would not introduce any essen tial changes in the structures examined is discussed ca refu lly in ­ cluding both the in situ and in v itr o preparations employable to many species, espe­ c ia lly to those p ra c tic a lly available at r e la t iv e ly low costs. Next, the qu a lita tive

techniques are reviewed fo r the waveguide behaviour, wavelength and d irectio n a l sensi­ t i v i t y o f transmission and image transfer observations. They are followed by a d is­ cussion o f waveguide behaviour аз a source o f morphological information in such animals as g o ld fish , fro g and some mammalian. The qu a lita tive observations are carried out main­ ly by using the w ell known MTF concept. The r e tin a l MTF was measured experimentally by several, authors. The apparatus is described and the resu lts o f MTF measurements ob­ tained fo r albino rat retin a , squ irrel monkey fovea and both human fovea and parafovea are reported and compared. Next, an important and very d i f f i c u l t problem o f quantita­

508 _{Book re v ie w s}

tiv e study o f single receptor behaviour i s widely studied· The study includes! the is o la tio n techniques· V-pammeter determination fo r low order nodes in single receptors· important techniques o f both re fra c tiv e index determination in the re tin a l waveguide and i t s surrounding as w a l l as the waveguide diameter estimation. This chapter o ffe rs a lso the basic knowledge enabl i ng to b e tte r understand the v a lid it y o f the th eoretical considerations concerning the waveguiding properties o f the re t in a l photoreceptor pre­ sented next in the Chapter 6·

The Chapter 6 (B.R. HOROWITZ) starts with the specificatio n o f a sim plified th ree- segment tapered modql o f the r e t in a l photoreceptor as a waveguide· i . e . , to be o f c i r - ieular crossreaction, smooth sad gradual e lli p s o id a l taper» homogeneous and isotropic

in divid u al segments· lin e a r media· the refrsietive index o f which i s independent o f wave­ length. A dditionally» the medium surrounding the photoreceptors i s assumed to be homo­ geneous and non-absorbing. The structural assumptions are then followed by the supposi­ tion defin ing the electromagnetic v a lid it y o f the model» that the fir s t -o r d e r e ffe c ts nay be calculated in the presenee o f the above assumption and that the in sit u properties o f a r e t in a l photoreceptor may be obtained from the calcu latio n s performed fo r a single photoreoeptor model by considering a d d itio n a lly such e ffe c ts lik s t op tica l excitation» o p tic a l coupling between the neighbouring receptor and the ro le of the lig h t scattered within the re tin a . Then the modes o f the d ie le c t ric waveguides are discussed r e la t iv e ly extensively. The discussion concerns» in p a rtic u la r, such problems ass basic behaviour o f exact node solutions (comprising bound modes, unbound modes, modal expansion o f f i e l d , node orthogonality, power co n sid eration s)r approximate bound-mode solution fo r small d i f ­ ferences in re fra c tiv e index (comprising the follow ing topics! approximate bound modes, some mode p ro perties, mode combinations, power carried by bound modes and mode coupling), and absorbing f i l t e r s fo r both single-bound and multiple-bound modes. One o f the fi n a l problems discussed in this chapter i s the o p tica l excitation o f modes fo r some specific illum ination sources. The chapter ends with the remarks specifying the a p p lic a b ilit y o f the accepted .model o f the photoreceptor, e sp e c ia lly , so fa r as the photoreceptor d ire o t iv ity i s concerned.

The more theoretical part o f the book i s continued in the next three Chapters -7, 8 and 9, which deal respectively with o p tic a l interactions in an array o f re tin a l receptors, v isu al receptor as a lig h t c o lle c to r and microphotometry o f such optical phenomena lik e i birefrin gen ce, dichroism, and anomalous d ispersion.

In the f i r s t o f them (Chapter 7, by W. WIJNGAAHD) the o ptical interaction between the re tin a l receptors i s analysed. This interaction i s understood as an influence on the absorption exerted in one receptor by the presence o f the other receptors. The discussion starts with the explanation o f the aperture e ff e c t , to consider next the two somewhat extreme cases of guided lig h t behaviour, i . e · , in a p a ir o f d ie le c tric rods and in an in fin it e regu lar array o f d ie le c t ric rods. In the f i r s t one the reader's attention i s drawn to such e ffe c ts lik e mode f i e l d fo r a p a ir o f d ie le c tric rods, beating phenomenon and possible interaction e ffe c ts fo r double cones. In the second one the situation i s considered when the lig h t beams f a l l on a rod being an element o f a regular array o f rods. Here the formerly achieved re su lts are e s s e n tia lly exp loit­

Book r e v ie w s 509 ed to shorten the discussion. At the end o f the chapter two Appendioes are added, the one dealing with symbols apd d efin ition s and' the other concerning the transfer o f power between the HE, , modes o f the rods o f a lin e a r array ·

In the short Chapter 8 (R* WINSTOl) the p rin cip les o f id e a l co llec tio n are formulated· Then the lig h t co lle c tin g properties o f certain models o f v isu a l receptors are discussed and followed by some in terestin g examples·

The contribution o f microspectrophotography to better understanding o f the seeing processes i s the subject matter o f the Chapter 9 ( F . I . HAROSI)· The main discussion i s here preceded by some elementary consideration concerning the interaction o f lig h t with the matter, comprising among other the follow ing topics* absorption o f lig h t , re­ fractio n and r e fle c tio n , polarization and i t s forms, lin ea r birefrin gen ce, lin ea r d i - chroism, o p tica l a c t iv it y , and o ptical dispersion. Next, the main topic i s developed, i . e . , the a p p lic a b ilit y o f d iffe re n t variants o f the microspActrophotometric tecnniques to r e t in a l photoreceptor examination. For example, one o f the b r i l l i a n t re su lts provid­ ed with the single visu al c e l l microspectrophotometry was the demonstration that the g o ld fis h , known to perceive colours independently o f brightness and to require three colours to-match a given spectral lin e , has three types o f spectroscopically d istin ­ guishable v isu a l pigments segregated into separate c e l l s . This re su lt was next proved to be true also fo r man. In the sequel some attention i s payed to such phenomena as d iffu s io n , birefrin gen ce, dichroism and shape variation in absorption spectra, a l l oc­ curring in visu al pigment. The chapter ends with specifying fu rth er topics o f research·

Tapeta lucide o f vertebrates i s the subject o f consideration in the Chapter 10 (J .A .C · NICOL) . The structure o f tapeta i s described fo r d iffe re n t species and the chemical composition, re fle c tio n mechanisms, transmission through photoreceptors, re tin a l ab­ sorption and v isu a l se n sitiv ity are considered and completed with discussion o f eco­ lo g ic a l aspects.

The la s t Chapter 10 (G.D. BERNARD) is devoted to some comparative study of vertebrate a£d invertebrate photoreceptots the emphasis being n atu rally put on the sp e c ific ity o f

the invertebrate eyes· In th is respect both the anatomy and optics i s discussed the con­ siderations being concentrated on photochemical and physiological aspects of inverte­ brate v is u a l organs·

The above summarizing remarks seem to be necessary to illu s t r a t e the richness and ex- ten tion of topics considered in th is book. Thus, the reader i s offered an extensive and extremely in terestin g knowledge. In the most cases i t i s very up-to-date and pre­ sented in a very attractive way· On the other hand, the reader i s not requested to have a too h ig h -le v e l background in the fi e ld s discussed. Instead, a general knowledge o f anatomy and physiology o f the eye and, what may be a l i t t l e more d i f f i c u l t , some e l ­ emental knowledge in geometric optics, o p tica l d iffr a c t io n and o p tica l waveguides would be highly recommended. Therefore, the book may provide a valuable in telectu al adventure to a wide c ir c le readers o f d iffe re n t background and involvement, wanting to know more

510 Book r e v ie w s about th e ir most Important source o f information about the world surrounding, which i s th eir sig h t·

Ireneusz Wilk

Institute of Physics, Technical University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland

Optische Nachrichtentechnik

Ger h ar d Gr a u

Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, N ew York 1981 [pp. i- x i + 353, with 144 Figs.]

One o f the most successful fi e ld s o f science and technology developed in the la s t dec­ ades is the gen erally understood communication. Sew hopes and expectation have arisen in th is f i e ld connected with the development of fib r e optics and planar optics wave­ guides. I t i s s t i l l too e a rly to judge to what extent these hopes are ju s t ifie d since the subject i s now under c arefu l and extensive study in many research centres a l l over the world. On the one hand, the up-to-date prototype re a liza tio n seem to be very en­ couraging but on the other one, very serious technological and economic problems remain s t i l l unsolved. The book reviewed may serve as a guide to the s p e c ific optical' commu­ nication problems solved (a t le a st p a r t ly ) so f a r .

The author starts the considerations in Chapter 1 with a short introductory p re -. sentatipn of the basic concepts and phenomena in plane waveguides to carry them quickly over to fib re waveguides. This chapter presenting also some methodological fundamentals may be p a rtic u la rly useful fo r those readers who begin to be involved in optical wave­ guide 'communication problems.

The proper lecture on the o p tica l communication starts in Chapter 2, which o ffe r s a systematic study o f the fib re ligh tguides, including carefu l description of the be­ haviour o f lig h t guided in fib re lightguides in two fundamental versions of the la tt e r: monomode fib r e s and multimode fib r e s . For these two cases the dispersion relatio n s are given and discussed taking account o f such important concepts as the chromatic d isper­ sion, mode, intermode and intramode dispersion, p r o file dispersion and, f i n a lly , the dispersion measurement methods. Considerable attention i s paid to the waveguide trans­ f e r function and esp ecia lly to the losses and attenuation occurring in the ligh tguides. This chapter i s ended with a b r i e f review o f such problems like fib re production,

meas-Book re v ie w s ₅₁₁

ureaent o f r e fra c tiv e index p r o file , coherence, nonlinear e ffe c t and some summarizing remarks concerning the waveguide ch a ra cteristics·

The next two chapters provide the basic information about the lig h t sources and pho­ todetectors used in fib r e optics communication systems* So fa r as the sources are con­ cerned the discussion i s concentrated mainly on ligh t-em ittin g diodes and laser diodes o f various types and includes th eir construction and p rin cip les o f operation, the emis­ sion properties as w ell as the lig h t modulation p o s s ib ilitie s and systems* The presenta­ tion o f photodetectors is started with principle o f operation and a review o f suitable m aterials. Then the PIN-diodes, i . e . , th eir cbnstruction types (conventional, multi­ r e fle c tio n and heterostructure with homo-pn-transition) and properties are considered. Then the photocurrent dynamics i s analysed fo r delta pulse end other irrad iation s* Re­ la t iv e ly more place is devoted to the avalanche photodiodes* Here, beside the construc­ tion forms the stationary behaviour is ca refu lly discussed to end with some rise-tim e data. F in a lly , the dynamic behaviour o f AH) i s considered*

The important problem o f the noise in fib re optics communication is the subject o f separate Chapter 5* I t starts with a short review o f npise sources to study extensively the laser noise so fa r as laser lig h t in ten sity fluctuation and it s consequences to pho­ tocurrent flu ctu ation in the detecting systems are concerned. Account is also taken o f two important kinds o f noise appearing s p e c ific a lly in o p tic a l fib re waveguides, i * e · , mode p a rtitio n noise and mode noise. The la tte r is esp ecia lly ca refu lly considered fo r fib re s o f stepped and parabol p r o file s . A short treatment o f the noise in both pho­ todetectors and four-terminal networks including it s instationary version, followed by discussion o f the detector threshold problem ends th is chapter.

The la s t three chapters devoted resp ectively to re c e iv e rs , coupling elements and op­ t ic a l communication sysjtems are o f more engineering character. The f i r s t o f them is mostly devoted to the calculation o f both analog and d ig it a l receivers. In particu lar,

the transfer o f both the signal and noise and the requested input power is analysed. The analysis o f coupling elements, being f i r s t formulated) i^i general terms and defining the fundamentals o f coupling, becomes soon sp ecified to' jtwo basic cases: generator- fib re coupling and fib r e - fib r e coupling. In the la st case the three kinds o f coupling are examined: plunge connections, sp lice connections and o p tica l branching ( a l l o f them constituting the basic coupling problems in o p tica l communication systems).

A b r ie f review o f o p tica l communication systems is"d;he subject o f the la st chapter o f the book. The fundamentals of the general system irfeory are f i r s t formulated and next used to perform a comparative study (with conventional communication systems). The discussion is ended with a very b r ie f mention o f some special cases o f such systems.

I have read this book with a pleasure. There are, at le a s t, three reasons fo r this fe e lin g to be mentioned: proper selection and organization o f the m aterial, a tend­ ency to use only r e la t iv e ly simple mathematical formalism and the language which tends to avoid the "natural" complexity o f w ritten German. The la t t e r feature o f the book is very important fo r the non-German readers (which is also my case). The book, dealing •with baaic physical phenomena occurring in the waveguides is also technically-oriented.

512 Book re v ie w s

This widens considerably the c irc le o f potential readers· In p a rtic u la r, the book may be recommended to the physicists sp e cializ in g in op tics, optic fib re communication

engineers as w e ll as to the people not involved p ro fession ally in these f ie ld s but wanting -to widen th eir technical horizon (provided they have s u ffic ie n t background in physics and mathematics on general university l e v e l ).

Ireneusz Wilk

Institute of Physics, Technical University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland

Electromagnetic Theory of Gratings

Topics in Current Physics, Vol. 22

Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York 1980 [pp. i - x i v + 284, with 182 Figs.]

Optics owes much to gratin gs, y et, according to the authors o f the book reviewed, g ra t­ ings acre greatly indebted to electromagnetics· This, o f course, implies a conventional distin ctio n between these two branches of physics. I f , however, the la t t e r i s designated as vector wave optics then the t i t l e o f the book would simply suggest that properties of gratings fepend on p olarisatio n ·

H is to r ic a lly , gratings were designed as a tool to study the wave nature o f lig h t , but nowadays re fle c tio n from and transmission through periodic structures proyide relevant information fo r various kinds o f wave phenomena· Present applications comprise a very wide area "including airp ort business” (p.213) and exceed the domain o f electromagnetic radiation ·

Confining attention to o p tics, i t i s impressive indeed to find gratings in so many devices· Thus, obviously, the understanding of both th eir properties and ro le perform­ ed in transformation o f lig h t i s c ru c ia l fo r inventive thinking in optics and o ptical engineering.

A s ig n ific a n t step in making the theory and applications o f gratings more accessible ie due to a competent theaa o f French and A ustralian authors o f the book discussed here·

Assuming with these experts that an adequate general framework fo r fu rth er grating studies i s set up by Maxwell's equations the ro le o f the computer in a p ractica l im mentation of such a program cannot be overemphasized. Somewhat p hilosophically one.can­ not help thinking that one o f the reasons lie s in the fa c t that the information to be

Book re v ie w s 513 extracted from whatever j.s processed in so c le a rly defined and that i t reduces to e f ­ fic ie n c ie s .

N aturally, numerical methods employed in the analysis o f gratings are fa r from rou­ tin e . Moreover, the use o f computer i s not lim ited to solving an in teg ra l equation or a system o f d iffe r e n t ia l equations in terms o f which a grating boundary value problem haa been formulated. As evidenced by Chapter 5 devoted to "The homogeneous problem" an in ­ genious use o f the computer is involved in an approach that might be described as hy­ b rid , where numerical calculations are c lo sely woven in to deep an a lytica l thinking. However, one is s t i l l under the impression that nature has something else to revea l a- bout grating and that the computer w i l l be cru cial in this respeot (s im ila rly as fo r come nonlinear problems)·

Insofar as the basic electromagnetics o f gratin g theory is concerned, i t could be sum­ marized as follow s:

1. For a l l mono-periodic structures with incidence normal to th e ir generatrices the analysis reduces to two independent scalar problems fo r two relevant second order (wave· lik e ) p a rtia l d iffe r e n t ia l equations (sca la riza b le problems).

2. For arbitrary incidence this reduction occurs only fo r p e rfe c tly conducting mono­ gratin gs.

3. In other cases (oblique incidence and b igratin gs) we deal with ess e n tia lly vector­ i a l problems. For p e rfe c tly conducting b i-gratin gs the analysis can be reduced to two independent Helmholtz equations coupled by boundary conditions. In general, however, we have to deal with the f u l l set o f Maxwell's equations or one v e c to ria l wave equation.

These fa cts discussed in the book, in view o f i t s t i t l e , deseWe a more e x p lic its presentation and a stronger emphasis. In this context one wonders what is meant by "usual cases o f p olarization " (p . 39).

Once a gratin g problem has been formulated as a scalar or v e c to ria l boundary problem, i t is i t s solution that constitutes the r e a l task. This solution - approximate or exact - can be sought a n a ly tic a lly , numerically or in some mixed way. The authors often r e ­ f e r to th e ir numerical approach as "rigorou s". I t should be noted, however, that the question whether th eir numerical solutions converge to the exact ones remains open. No proofs on th is account are given, though the accuracy o f the solutions is investigated

by various numerical checks.

I t seems th at, despite the t i t l e o f the book which puts stress on electromagnetic v e c to ria l aspects o f the grating theory, the authors in. fa c t are much more interested in contrasting th e ir numerical approach with approximate an a lytica l 'solutions.

As is w e ll known, most o f the e a rly useful results were obtained from approximate solutions based, fo r example, on Kirchhoff*s theory; nowadays th is trend is represented, fo r instance, by the use o f various kinds o f approximate boundary conditions.

In connection with electromagnetics aspects o f the gratings theory i t is unfortunate that the authors have not defined p recisely what they mean by scalar theory o f gra t­ ings. A guess is made that within th is theory lig h t i s described by one scalar function sa tis fy in g a Helmholtz equation, and that boundary conditions and solutions are appro­ p ria te .

514 Book re v ie w s

In th ie context the reviewers f e e l rather strongly that the.book would be ta r b etter balanced| i f in what is called "A tu to ria l introduction" a review o f e a r lie r results o f gratings theory, current research trends and even some con troversial questions were b r ie fly presented. Of course, we are aware o f the e x istin g review papers but a concise discussion o f these matters seems to constitute a very desirable background o f the book. I t could also be used to compare more comprehensively some o f the authors' resu lts with the e a r lie r approximate solutions. Such a review could also b etter unify some th eo retica l resu lts scattered throughout the book} fo r example, i t seems that the theo­ rems from page 176 should be given in such an enlarged introduction.

The reader should also be aware that the coritent o f the book is d e c is iv e ly determined by the authors' personal in terests. Thus the book deals mainly with planar mono- and doubly-periodic d ie le c t r ic , metal or mixed structures. Such type3 o f gratings, as Bragg r e fle c tio n , bleached holographic, slanted or concave gratings are not discussed. Sim ilar­ ly , a number o f modern an alytical and numerical methods are not mentioned otherwise than in the l i s t o f references.

As another example le t us point out that results and applications presented in Chapter 6 are re s tric te d to metal gratings only. Hence, the reader interested in integrated op­ tic s would be rather d is s a tis fie d . The reviewers are inclined to disagree with the opinion that " d ie le c tr ic gratings have been e ffe c t iv e ly neglected ( . . . ) because u n til very recen tly, no electromagnetic study o f them was required " (p . 223), esp ecia lly in view o f many references contained in the book which indicate something quite contrary.

A point about which the reviewers have some doubts and rather mixed feelin g s is the use o f d istrib u tion theory in presenting basic electromagnetics and rudiments o f grat­ ings theory. Of course, an approach is quite understandable fo r fe llo w countrymen o f Laurent Schwartz. Nevertheless, the reviewers are not in favour o f modernizing e le c ­ tromagnetics as a side e ffe c t o f grating theory.

Generally speaking, the d istribu tion calculus proves useful in the analysis o f the periodic s tr a tifie d structures, but, at 1‘east at th is le v e l, i t gives nothing more than can be obtained from the c la s s ic a l in tegra l form o f Maxwell equations. Moreover, some considerations (pp. 20, 21) by th eir redundancy, contribute also to our objections.

A shortcoming o f the book starns also from the fa c t that no account was taken o f the Soviet contributions to gratings theory. The authors ascribe this to the language barrier, but i t seems to us that at least some Russian books of basic importance fo r gratings could be lis t e d . In particu lar we have in mind:

- V.P. SHESTOPALOV, Method o f Riemann-Hilbert Problem in Theory o f D iffra c tio n and Propagation of Electromagnetic Waves, Kharkov Univ. Press, Kharkov 1971.

- E .I. NEiFEYODOV E . I . , A.N. 3IV0V, Electrodynamics o f Periodic Structures, Nauka, Moskva 1977.

- V.P. SHESTOPALOlf, L.N. LITVINENKO, S.A. MASLOV, V.G. SOLOGUB, D iffra c tio n o f Waves by Gratings, Kharkov Univ. Press, Kharkov 1973.

I f our suggestion, concerning an enlarged tu to ria l introduction, finds Dr. PETIT'S approvement, we s h a ll.c a ll his attention to the recen tly published papers:

Book r e v ie w s 515

- M.G. MOHARAU, T.K. GAYLORD, Coupled Wave Analysis o f R eflection Gratings, Appl. Opt. 20 (1981), 240-244.

- R.A. HURD, E.V. JULL, Theory o f a R eflection Grating with Narrow Grooves,·Radio 3 c i. 16 (1981), 271-277.

To end our review on a less subjective note we give a b r ie f description o f the book's content.

The book is divided in to 7 chapters. The e d ito r 's e ffo r t s are obvious from th eir com­ plementary character. In A T u toria l Introduction the e d ito r presents the basic concepts o f electromagnetic theory and describes fundamental methods o f grating theory, i . e . , the Rayleigh expansion, the in te g ra l, d iffe r e n t ia l and modal expansion methods.

An Appendix gives a brief account^of the theory of distributions.

In the second Chapter e n title d Some Mathematical Aspects of Grating Theory U. CADILHAC discussed baBic properties o f the solutions o f the Helmholtz equation, uniqueness and re c ip ro c ity theorems, improved point-matching technique.

The third Chapter In tegra l Methods describes the methods o f reducing the problem o f d iffr a c tio n by a sin gle or m u ltip rofile grating . to a Fredholm equation of f i r s t or sec­ ond kind or to a system o f such equations and to th eir numerical solutions.

In the fourth Chapter D iffe r e n tia l Methods G. VINCENT treats the same problems with the help o f two d iffe r e n t ia l methods. The f i r s t reduces Maxwell's equations to a set o f ordinary d iffe r e n t ia l equations, in the second a conformal mapping technique is employ­ ed to sim plify the geometry o f the problem. Both theory and p ra ctica l aspects o f it s applications are discussed in these two chapters»

A very in te re s tig Chapter e n title d The Homogeneous Problem is devoted to analysis o f such phenomena, as Wood anomalies, to ta l absorption and excitation o f leaky waves. In contrast to other chapters the author stresses qu a lita tive physical aspects o f the problem considered. Some applications, e . g . , to grating couplers are also discussed.

The six Chapter i s devoted to The Experimental V e rific a tio n and Application of the Theory. Numerous e ffic ie n c y curves and other quantitative data are presented and used to compare th eo retica l results with experiments. Various types o f gratin gs, e . g . , ruled, sinusoidal* lam ellar are discussed fo r a broad spectrum ranging from microwave to X-ray domains.

The la st Chapter Theoryi o f Crossed Grating by R.C. MCPHEDRAN, G.H. DERRICK and L.C. BOTTEN considers the doubly^periodic d iffr a c tio n structures. The modal expansion, mul­ tip le -s c a tte rin g and conformal mapping approaches are used and the application in con­ struction of s e le c tiv e f i l t e r s fo r ,s o la r energy absorption is analysed.

Thus, summarizing our conclusions and despite our c r itic is m , the people dealing with gratin g problems has received a useful and informative book, especially.concerning power­ fu l numerical approach which w i l l certainly, contribute to the solution of various ad­ vanced grating problems. However, there s t i l l remains a great need fo r a fundamental, comprehensive monography on grating theory,

A number o f misprints has been spotted» p. 3 - formula below (1 2 ), p. 7 - footn ote, p. 42 - 4th lin e from the topj p. 55 - lin e above (2 .8 ), p, 86 - 6th lin e from the top,

516 _{Book re v ie w s}

p. 87 - 2nd line from the top, p. 127 - 2nd lin e from the bottom, p. 131 - 2nd lin e and 8th lin e from the,bottom, p. 213 - 3rd lin e from the top, p, 261 - footnote.

The reviewers being not native English speakers are not in the position to give an opinion about the language o f the bdofe, the follow in g terms, however, seem to be ques­ tionable*

p. 7 - nondependent o f, should rather be independent o f, p. 10 - damped, should rather be decaying,

p. 124. - by a dipole the author means a simple resonant two-terminal network· A grammatical dilema o f the English language i s solved by using the term "a Green function" ( p. 21).

Stanislow Przezdziecki, Wojciech Nasalski

Institute of Fundamental Problems of Technics, Polish Academy of Sciences,

Warsaw, Poland

Laser Spectroscopy

Basic Concepts and Instrum entation

W. De m trOder

Springer Series in Chem ical Physics, Vol.5 Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York 1981

[pp. i - xii + 694, with 413 Figs.]

The invention o f laser gave an impetus to a rapid development o f the c la s s ic a l o p tic a l spectroscopy, mainly the Raman scattering spectroscopy, and laso stimulated new kinds o f spectroscopies. Here, nonlinear spectroscopy, multiphonon spectroscopy, tim e-resolv­ ed spectroscopy may be mentioned; a l l they being termed generally laser spectroscopy. The extension of the method, esp ecia lly the improvement o f it s spectral Resolution, has enabled the in vestigations of.numerous problems concerning the structure o f gases, liq u - ides and s o lid s.

WOIFGANG DEMTRQDER in his Laser Spectroscopy has decided to present largely the meth­ od i t s e l f and to lim it it s applications to the atomic, ionic and molecular problem in gaseous state.

The book consists o f three parts. The f i r s t one, including UKree chapters, introduces the fundamentals o f the theory and instrumentation o f general o p tic a l spectroscopy with a special emphasis on the aspects important fo r gases and fo r laser techniques. When defin in g the basic notions o f absorption and emission o f lig h t (Chapter 2 ), lik e os­ c illa t o r strength, tran sition p rob ab ility, in ten sity and p o larization o f spectral lin e ,

Book r e v ie w s ₅₁₇

coherence and eo on, the author presents the corresponding mathematical formulae., the graphical description and the techniques allowing the determination o f quantities in

question*

The natural linewidth o f spectral lin es and d iffe re n t mechanisms o f th eir broadening! Doppler, c o llis io n , tim e -o f-lig h t, homogeneous and inhomogeneous, and saturation broad­ ening, are described in d e ta il in Chapter 3. Starting from the cla s s ic a l equation o f damped o s c illa to r and i t s Fourier transformation, the Lorentz, Gauss, Voigt and other a n a lytical formulae fo r lin e p r o file are derived· In this chapter the time scale o f phenomena turns out to be very important in in teraction o f molecules with the radiation f i e l d , and co rrela tio n function, e . g . , between the o s c illa tio n before and a fte r c o l l i ­ sion, is often used·

In Chapter 4 the available cla s s ic a l and modern instruments fo r measurement o f wave­ length and in ten sity o f spectral lin es are discussed. A fter characterizing prism spec­ trographs and gratin g spectrometers by th e ir speed, spectral transmittance, spectral resolvin g power and fre e spectral range, the various kinds o f interferom etres as es­ sen tial devices fo r narrowing, monitoring and s ta b iliz in g the laser linewidth and wave­ length, are described in terms o f the above given ch a ra cteristics· A special attention is devoted to the detectors o f lig h t. Apart from the calorim eters, bolometers, Golay c e lls , d iffe r e n t ph otocells, photocathodes, photomultipliers and photon counting detec­ to rs , v id e ly used in spectroscopy, the new detection instruments "which could escape from m ilita ry research in to the open market" are presented· They are: single-stage im­ age in t e n s ifie r , cascade image in te n s ifie r , photodiodes and very in terestin g o p tic a l multichannel analyser* ca lled vidicon detector, At the end o f th is chapter the equip­ ments allow ing measurements o f fa s t transient events, lik e the boxcar in tegra to r, the transient recorder and the fa s t transient d ig it iz e r with subnanosecond resolution are outlined·

The second part o f the book consists also o f three chapters. They deal with various lasers as spectroscopic lig h t sources. Chapter 5 gives the basic prin ciples o f laser with special emphasis on the modes behaviour: th eir competition due to the gain satu­ ra tio n , sp a tia l hole burning and the conditions fo r the maximum output power o f a la s e r· Chapter 6 characterizes fixed-frequency la sers, tunable lasers and multimode lasers. Here the special attention is given to the conditions o f wavelength and in ten sity sta­ b iliz a t io n and o f the tuning o f wavelength. Chapter 7 considers d iffe re n t tunable la ­ sers, and not only la sers, as in frared , v is ib le and u ltra v io le t radiation sources.-They are semiconductor diode la ser, s p in -flip Raman lasers, Zeeman tuned gas la s e r, color center la ser, dye la sers, excimer laser* and numerous coherent radiation sources based on nonlinear electro ^ p tic su s c e p tib ility o f m aterials. The la tte r include devices u ti­ liz in g nonlinear o p tic a l mixing techniques, lik e second and third harmonic generation, sum or d ifferen ce frequency generation, and also o p tica l parametric o s c illa to rs and tunable Raman lasers. Beside the main ideas o f these methods the schematic present­ ation o f experimental arrangement and the tables containing the d iffe re n t re a liz in g designs are often given.

518 _{Book re v ie w s}

Chapter 8 treats o f the absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy o f gases with re­ solution lim ited by Doppler broadening o f spectral lin e , including* excitation spectro- scopy, photoacoustic spectroscopy,’ in tra ca vity absorption, optogalvanic spectroscopy, ion ization spectroscopy, laser magnetic resonance spectroscopy, Stark spectroscopy, laser induced fluorescence (L IT ), stepwise e x c ita tio n , spectroscopy of Rydberg states, optical-radio-frequency double resonance, o p tica l microwave doube resonance (OMDR), microwave-infrared double resonance, o p tic a l-o p tic a l double resonance, multiphoton spec­ troscopy and multiphoton-donizatian spectroscopy.

In Chapter 9 the main ideas o f the lin ea r Raman spectroscopy and several nonlinear Raman techniques* stimulated Raman scatterin g (SRS), coherent anti-Stokes Raman spec­ troscopy (CARS) and hyper-Raman spectroscopy, are given.

Chapter 10 presents the. news branches o f spectroscopy, in which the knowledge on the atomic and molecular structure may reach a higher le v e l. In this chapter the techniques which overcome the Doppler width resolution lim it are deals with, mamelyt the spectro­ scopy in collim ated molecular beams, saturation spectroscopy, p o la riza tio n spectroscopy, saturated interference spectroscopy, heterodyne spectroscopy, Doppler-free multiphonon spectroscopy and level-crossin g spectroscopy!·

In the next, Chapter 11 the main problem iia also high resolution but considered in the time scale. The fundamentals o f generation p f short laser pulse and life tim e measure­ ments are given as w e ll as the basic p rin cip les o f the picosecond spectroscopy, quantum beat spectroscopy, photon echoes, o p tic a l nutation and fre e induction decay”, and pulse Fourier Transform Spectroscopy.

Chapters 12 and 13 deal with s lig h t ly d iffe r e n t subjects. Besides spectroscopy, in ­ formation about atomic and molecular structures and-interaction poten tials is provided by the in vestigation o f scattering or c o llis io n processes in gases. The introduction o f laser has also contributed to the.development o f th is f i e l d o f knowledge. The tech­ niques o f la ser spectroscopy presented in the previous and next chapters are discussed in Chapter 12 in relevance to molecular c o llis io n s .

The p o s s ib ility o f reaching the ultimate resolution lim it with the aid o f R ecen tly developed techniques, such as op tica l Ramsay frin ges and trapping and cooling o f atoms and the conditions to be s a tis fie d are outlined in Chapter 13.

In the la s t Chapter'14 the author b r ie fly considers the applications o f laser spec­ troscopy tc isotope separation, monitoring o f the atmospheric composition and to the in ­ vestigation o f other problems in' biology and medicine.

The author addresses h is book to physicists and chemists who are interested in more d eta iled study o f la ser spectroscopy. I t seems that also other scie n tis ts and students who have some knowledge in the c la s s ic a l spectroscopy may p r o fit by reading this book owing to i t s didactic values, lik e c le a r presentation o f the main ideas and the cor­ responding mathematical formulations, gradually increasing d if f ic u lt y o f the presented problems, numerous figu res w ell illu s tr a tin g the phenomena discussed, numerical examples ending the several paragraphs and numerous references to the d efin itio n s given in ear­ l i e r Chapters and to the complementary bibliography (824 referen ces).

Book r e v ie w s ₅₁₉

In sp ite of the large size and f a i r l y large introductory part th is book is written very concisely. This i s esp ecia lly c le a r when taking aooount o f the fa c t that to eaok o f the described spectroscopies one book o f a comparable size (a s i t i s often a f a c t ) might be devoted.

The short time o f publication caused in evitable e d it o r ia l e rro rs . One has notioed the following*

p . 58, Sec. 2.9.6. Density Matrix (before Sec· 2 .9 .5 ) i s the seoond Sec· 2 .9 .6 , not evidences in Contents,

p . 137, bottom lin e 5 - instead of " . . . defined by (4 .2 8 )M.i t should be (4 .2 9 ), p . 178, bottom lin e 2 - instead o f " . . . A n » 0.04" i t should be A n · 0.16, and consequently other value of 6v ,

p.- 342, caption to the P ig . 7.17 - instead o f "gracing" should be "g ra zin g ", p. 346, in F i g . 7.21 the succession o f , M^ i s other than that in the te x t, p. 433, in F ig . 8.36c negative and positive sign als X1a_and \ 2a are la b e lle d contrary to the text.

p. 505, in F ig . 10.34 i s opposite la b e llin g of p olarize rs P1 and Pg than in the text.

Summing up, the Laser Spectroscopy by W. DEMTROEDER is a very valuable textbook, which actu ally re a liz e s the intention o f the author r to close the gap between, the ad­ vanced research papers and the representation o f fundamental prin cip les and experimental techniques".

Magdalena M. Szostak

Institute of Organic and Physical Chemistry, Technical University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland

Laser Spectroscopy of Solids

Editors: W.M. Ye n, P.M. Se lz e r, with contributors

Topics in Applied Physics, Yol. 49

Springer-Verlag, Berlin, New York, Heidelberg 1981 [pp. i - x + 310, with 117 Figs.]

The monograph laser Spectroscopy o f Solids edited by W.M. IEN and P.M. SELZER f i l l s & gap in the s p e c ia lis t ic s c ie n tific lite ra tu re concerning tha application o f the laser spectroscopy to in vestigation on some classes of properties o f the inorganic and organic d ie le c tric c ry sta ls.

The book i s organized as follow s» Chapter 1 (by C.J. IMBUSCH and R. K0PELMAN) sur­ veys in general terms the f i e ld o f spectroscopy o f insulators and establish es the basic

520 _{Book r e v ie w s}

| features. The Chapters 2 (by T . HOLSTEIN, S.K· LYO, R. ORBACH) and 3 (by D.L. HUBER), re s p ectively deal with the mięroacopic and macroscopic aspects of the theory o f dynamioe jo f o p tic a lly excited states with emphasis on ion-ion interactions which are responsible

fo r o p tic a l energy tran sfer and d iffu sion in condensed phases. Chapter 4 by P.M. SEL- ZER presents d etailed experimental techniques which are used in laser spectroscopy in s o lid s . F in a lly , the la st three chapters (Chapter 5, by W.U. YEN, P.M. SELZER, Chapter 6 by.M.J. WEBER, and Chapter 7 by A.H. FRANCIS and R. KOPELMAN) present surveys o f the I em pirical and organic s o lid s , resp ectively.

Other areas in the study o f o p tica l properties o f condensed matter,rwhere lasers have played cru oia l ro les and where considerable advances have been made such as semiconduc'- tors and the various types o f scattering experiments, are not in the p rin cipal focus o f th is volume and, hence, w i l l not be reviewed here.

These lim itation s in the scope o f in terest o f the monograph's e d ito r allows to ex­ pect the appearance o f the next separate volumes in Topics in Applied Physics series which w i l l be concerned with, application o f laser spectroscopy to e .g . semiconductors, e t c ·

A p re c is e , c le a r and didactic presentation o f the basic problems o f o p tic a l spectro acopy o f solid s given by a l l contributors to this volume, makes the reviewer agree completely with Profs. W.M. YES and- P.M. SELZER - the authors o f the preface - that the viewB presented in this monograph w i l l be very useful both to the neophytes and the veterans in th is f i e l d o f knowledge·

Andrzej Kisiel

Institute of Physics, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland

Optical Information Processing

Editor · S.H. Lee

Topics in Applied Physics, Vol. 48

Springer-Verlag, Berlin, New York, Heidelberg 1981 (pp. i - x i + 308, with 197 Figs.]

The book reviewed is the 48th volume o f the Springer S eries: Topics in Applied Physics and, being devoted to the methods of o p tica l information processing in both coherent and incoherent o p tic a l systems, i t deals with the problems discussed e a r lie r in 23th volume o f the same Springer S e rie s · The book, written by many^authors, comprises the follow ing