Laser Physics, Simon Hooker & Colin Webb
In this book the interaction of radiation and matter, and the principles of laser operation are treated at a level suitable for fourth-year undergraduate courses or introductory graduate courses in physics, chemistry or engineering. The factors which determine efficiency, wavelength coverage, output power, and beam quality of the different classes of laser are treated both in terms of fundamental theory and practical construction aspects. Details of established types of solid-state, semiconductor, and gas lasers are examined together with the techniques that enable their output to be converted widely across the spectrum. The latest advances in high power fibre lasers, femtosecond lasers, and X-ray lasers are explained. The text is liberally illustrated with more than 300 diagrams. An extensive bibliography is provided, together with numerical problems in each chapter.

Readership: Final year undergraduates and first year graduates in physics, electrical engineering, and chemistry. Lecturers in physics, electrical engineering, and chemistry.

Reviews

"This is an absolute tour de force in laser physics and is set to establish itself as a key undergraduate text in this topical area, however, it most certainly would not be out of place as an indispensible reference in the research laboratory. A comprehensive treatment is provided for the basic operation of a generic laser through to the characteristics of all the important modern laser systems and the key features such as single frequency operation, ultrashort pulse generation and measurement and application to non linear optics."
J.R. Taylor, Imperial College, London

Further comments and reviews are available here.

Purchasing

Laser Physics is available in bookshops, or direct from OUP

Solutions to Exercises

A Solutions Manual is now available for instructors.

Corrections

We would welcome comments and notification of errors. Please send these to LaserPhysics@physics.ox.ac.uk.

A list of known errors is provided here (updated 18 April 2014).

Other information

Simon Hooker's research group