Radiation can be absorbed and re-emitted many times in atomic vapors before it reaches the boundaries of the container encasing the vapor. This effect is known as radiation trapping. It plays an important role practically everywhere atomic vapors occur, whether in spectroscopy, gas lasers, atomic line filters, the determination of atomic lifetimes, measurements of atomic interaction potentials, or electric discharge lamps. This book is the first to assemble all of the information necessary to handle practical problems related to radiation trapping, and it emphasizes both physical insights and...