Laser application in chemistry and related fields is an area growing at rapid pace in line with new developments in laser technology. The fields of application range from fundamental chemical research to sophisticated analytical methods in chemical and biotechnological industry and in environmental chemistry.

1 Principles of Laser Operation.- 1.1 The Nature of Stimulated Emission.- 1.2 Resonators and Pumping Processes.- 1.3 Coherent Radiation, Standing Waves and Modes.- 1.4 The Kinetics of Laser Emission.- 1.4.1 Rate Equations.- 1.4.2 Threshold Conditions.- 1.4.3 Pulsed Versus Continuous Emission.- 1.5 Transitions, Lifetimes and Linewidths.- 1.5.1 Three-level Laser.- 1.5.2 Four-level Laser.- 1.5.3 Emission Linewidths.- 1.6 Properties of Laser Light, and Their Applications.- 1.6.1 Beamwidth.- 1.6.2 Intensity.- 1.6.3 Coherence.- 1.6.4 Monochromaticity.- 1.7 Questions.- 2 Laser Sources.- 2.1 Optically-pumped Solid-state Lasers.- 2.1.1 Ruby Laser.- 2.1.2 Neodymium Lasers.- 2.1.3 Tunable Lasers.- 2.2 Semiconductor Lasers.- 2.3 Atomic and Ionic Gas Lasers.- 2.3.1 Helium-Neon Laser.- 2.3.2 Argon Laser.- 2.3.3 Copper Vapour Laser.- 2.4 Molecular Gas Lasers.- 2.4.1 Carbon Dioxide Laser.- 2.4.2 Nitrogen Laser.- 2.4.3 Chemical Lasers.- 2.4.4 Iodine Laser.- 2.4.5 Excimer Lasers.- 2.5 Dye Lasers.- 2.6 Free-electron Laser.- 2.7 Questions.- 3 Laser Instrumentation in Chemistry.- 3.1 Polarising Optics.- 3.2 Frequency Conversion.- 3.2.1 Dye Laser Conversion.- 3.2.2 Non-linear Optics.- 3.2.3 Raman Shifting.- 3.3 Pulsing Techniques.- 3.3.1 Cavity Dumping.- 3.3.2 Q-Switching.- 3.3.3 Mode-locking.- 3.4 Detectors.- 3.5 Pulse Detection Systems.- 3.5.1 Lock-in Amplifiers.- 3.5.2 Boxcar Integrators.- 3.5.3 Single-pulse Systems.- 3.6 Light Scattering Instrumentation.- 3.6.1 Nephelometry.- 3.6.2 Photon Correlation Measurements.- 3.6.3 Brillouin Scattering.- 3.6.4 Doppler Velocimetry.- 3.6.5 Lidar.- 3.7 Polarimetry.- 3.8 Laser Detectors in Chromatography.- 3.9 Laser Microprobe Instrumentation.- 3.10 Laser Safety.- 3.11 Questions.- 4 Chemical Spectroscopy with Lasers.- 4.1 Absorption Spectroscopy.- 4.2 Specialised Absorption Techniques.- 4.2.1 Excitation Spectroscopy.- 4.2.2 Ionisation Spectroscopy.- 4.2.3 Thermal Lensing Spectroscopy.- 4.2.4 Photoacoustic Spectroscopy.- 4.2.5 Optogalvanic Spectroscopy.- 4.2.6. Laser Magnetic Resonance.- 4.2.7 Laser Stark Spectroscopy.- 4.2.8 Supersonic Jet Spectroscopy.- 4.2.9 Other High-resolution Methods.- 4.3 Fluorescence Spectroscopy.- 4.3.1 Laser-Induced Atomic Fluorescence.- 4.3.2 Laser-Induced Molecular Fluorescence.- 4.4 Raman Spectroscopy.- 4.5 Specialised Raman Techniques.- 4.5.1 Resonance Raman Spectroscopy.- 4.5.2 Stimulated Raman Spectroscopy.- 4.5.3 Inverse Raman Spectroscopy.- 4.5.4 CARS Spectroscopy.- 4.5.5 Surface-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy.- 4.5.6 Raman Optical Activity.- 4.6 Multiphoton Spectroscopy.- 4.6.1 Single-beam Two-photon Absorption.- 4.6.2 Double-beam Two-photon Absorption.- 4.6.3 Multiphoton Absorption Spectroscopy.- 4.6.4 Hyper-Raman Spectroscopy.- 4.7 Laser Mass Spectrometry.- 4.8 References.- 4.9 Questions.- 5 Laser-Induced Chemistry.- 5.1 Principles of Laser-induced Chemistry.- 5.1.1 Features of Laser Excitation.- 5.1.2 Laser-initiated Processes.- 5.2 Multiphoton Infra-red Excitation.- 5.2.1 Diatomic Molecules.- 5.2.2 Polyatomic Molecules.- 5.2.3 Reaction Rates and Yields.- 5.3 Laser Photochemical Processes.- 5.3.1 Unimolecular Laser-induced Reactions.- 5.3.2 Bimolecular Laser-enhanced Reactions.- 5.3.3 Laser-sensitised Reactions.- 5.3.4 Ultrafast Reactions.- 5.3.5 Laser Reaction Diagnostics.- 5.4 Isotope Separation.- 5.4.1 Photoionisation.- 5.4.2 Photodissociation.- 5.4.3 Photochemical Reaction.- 5.4.4 Photodeflection.- 5.5 Materials Applications.- 5.5.1 Laser Surface Chemistry.- 5.5.2 Purification of Materials.- 5.5.3 Production of Ceramic Powders.- 5.5.4 Laser-initiated Polymerisation.- 5.6 Photodynamic Therapy.- 5.7 References.- 5.8 Questions.- Appendix 1: Listing of Output Wavelengths from Commercial Lasers.- Appendix 2: Directory of Acronyms and Abbreviations.- Appendix 3: Selected Bibliography.- Appendix 4: Answers to Numerical Problems.

Laser application in chemistry and related fields is an area growing at rapid pace in line with new developments in laser technology. The fields of application range from fundamental chemical research to sophisticated analytical methods in chemical and biotechnological industry and in environmental chemistry. This book shows, with detail, the breath of applications of lasers in chemistry, with particular reference to analytical and research applications. D.L. Andrews presents the subject matter at a level amenable to the general chemist, the novice and the practising specialists as well. The 3rd edition of this successful book has been completely revised and updated.