Ultrafast Lasers and Optics for Experimentalists

Many modern spectroscopic techniques demand the use of light sources with ultrashort pulse durations, broad bandwidths and high intensities. Ultrafast lasers produce pulses that can satisfy all these demands, and so their use has expanded beyond laser physics labs. They are now increasingly commonplace in the physical, chemical and life sciences where they are used to probe ever faster fleeting chemical and molecular processes. This has moved experimental applications from specialist labs into the hands of scientists with very different backgrounds, often united by a lack of formal training in ultrafast lasers and optics.
Time-resolved spectroscopic techniques are used widely by scientists for exploring processes with sub-nanosecond timescales and the use of ultrafast lasers has expanded beyond use by specialist laser physicists and is increasingly commonplace where the high intensities and short pulse durations make them ideal for investigating a wide range of chemical and physical phenomena. Working with these ultrashort femtosecond laser pulses requires some special care when compared to other laser systems, and this book provides an ideal starting point for the non-specialist to gain the necessary knowledge to start effectively working with ultrafast lasers and optics. Starting with a discussion of what these pulses physically are, the book walks the reader through the relevant parts of ultrashort pulse physics, pulse generation, and pulse characterisation, before discussing how to practically build an optical setup and manipulate these pulses. Many aspects of the practicalities of working with optics and lasers that are often considered assumed knowledge by experienced campaigners are discussed in detail. The book is aimed specifically at non-specialists, and thus the only assumed knowledge is that which would typically be gained in undergraduate quantum mechanics or spectroscopy courses, and the emphasis is placed on intuitive, qualitative understanding of the concepts rather than dense mathematics. The fundamental aim is that a final year undergraduate student without a strong physics background, but who is starting a project or PhD in a laser group, can pick this book up and quickly get up to speed with the fundamentals of ultrafast laser physics that enable effective laboratory work.
"Rarely do I see a proposal where the book is well and truly needed. This book is that exception" -- Prof Andrew M. Ellis, School of Chemistry, University of Leicester, UK