This research exposition on high-energy molecular lasers incorporates author V.V. Apollonov’s 30-plus-year collaboration with Nobel Prize-winner A.M. Prokhorov. A broad readership could benefit from this book, including graduate students and scientists involved with applied gas-laser and molecular-laser research.
This book informs readers about the formation characteristics of a self-controlled volume discharge in order to pump molecular lasers. High-power, self-sustained volume-discharge-based CO2 laser systems are analyzed and discussed in detail. Further coverage details high-energy lasers—those of various gas mixtures—as well as short-pulse laser systems in particular.
Specific applications include currents close to the plasma surface produced by CO2 laser radiation, and high-energy molecular lasers with variable structure of radiation. This well-written reference should also attract material scientists, based on the effective use of high-energy molecular lasers in material processing.
Review by Axel Mainzer Koenig, CEO, 21st Century Data Analysis, a division of Koenig & Associates, Inc. Portland, Ore., U.S.A.
The opinions expressed in the book review section are those of the reviewer and do not necessarily reflect those of OPN or OSA.