This highly recommended, clearly written, carefully illustrated and referenced book is suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate students. The authors carefully explain the theory, experiments and applications that have been successful in precision measurements (based on the use of the optical frequency comb) and in atomic physics (based on advances in laser cooling). The book focuses on three broad topics: the precision determination of fundamental constants, tests of both general relativity and quantum electrodynamics, and atomic clocks. Each topic is carefully examined from early works to recent Nobel Prizes. The physics and the mathematics are carefully examined and the reader is provided detailed footnotes, references, an index and appendices to fill in any lacunae. The chapters on Bose-Einstein condensation and on optical lattices provide the reader with some current exciting research.
Review by Barry R. Masters, Fellow of AAAS, OSA and SPIE.
The opinions expressed in the book review section are those of the reviewer and do not necessarily reflect those of OPN or OSA.