With the development of lasers that can generate light 11 14 pulses ranging from 10- - 10- sec duration, and capable of 13 peak powers in excess of 10 watts scientists have been able to investigate the interactions of light with matter in a time and power domain not previously possible. These ultrashort laser pulses provide a powerful tool for the study of chemical phenomena at the most fundamental level. Many of the elementary processes of importance in chemistry including energy dissipa tion, molecular motions, structural and chemical changes occur on a very short time scale and thus...

This second edition in paperback provides an up-to-date review of the state of the art in different generation processes for ultrashort laser pulses. Inaddition, extensive applications in a wide range of fields - in physics, engineering, chemistry, and biology - are discussed: Eight chapters dealwith the following topics: -the generation of picosecond and femtosecond laser pulses -nonlinear wave interactions - new investigations in solid-state physics - recent progress in optoelectronics - advances in coherent material excitations - ultrafast vibrational lifetimes and energy redistribution in...

The motivating idea of the first Topical Meeting on Picosecond Phenomena, which took place at Hilton Head Island in 1978, was to bring together scien tists and engineers in a congenial setting who were developing picosecond lasers with those who were applying them to problems in chemistry, physics, electronics, and biology. The field has advanced remarkably in the following six years. This is reflected in the size of the conference which has more than doubled in the past six years and now includes scientists from many countries around the world. As evidenced by the papers in this volume, the...

With the development of lasers that can generate light 11 14 pulses ranging from 10- - 10- sec duration, and capable of 13 peak powers in excess of 10 watts scientists have been able to investigate the interactions of light with matter in a time and power domain not previously possible. These ultrashort laser pulses provide a powerful tool for the study of chemical phenomena at the most fundamental level. Many of the elementary processes of importance in chemistry including energy dissipa tion, molecular motions, structural and chemical changes occur on a very short time scale and thus...