Nonlinear Optics, Quantum Optics, And Ultrafast Phenomena With X-Rays

Nonlinear Optics, Quantum Optics, and Ultrafast Phenomena with X-Rays is an introduction to cutting-edge science that is beginning to emerge on state-of-the-art synchrotron radiation facilities and will come to flourish with the x-ray free-electron lasers currently being planned.
It is intended for the use by scientists at synchrotron radiation facilities working with the combination of x-rays and lasers and those preparing for the science at x-ray free-electron lasers. In the past decade synchrotron radiation sources have experienced a tremendous increase in their brilliance and other figures of merit.
This progress, driven strongly by the scientific applications, is still going on and may actually be accelerating with the advent of x-ray free-electron lasers. As a result, a confluence of x-ray and laser physics is taking place, due to the increasing importance of laser concepts, such as coherence and nonlinear optics to the x-ray community and the importance of x-ray optics to the laser-generation of ultrashort pulses of x-rays.

The fields of nonlinear optics, quantum optics, and the physics of ultrafast phenomenon with x-rays are all emergent but, more importantly to Adams (Argonne National Laboratory) they are also convergent, with the techniques and theories of the one often informing the other. He presents 11 chapters that reflect that convergence while not attempting to be comprehensive, covering such topics as nonlinear optics of free electrons, dynamical diffraction, parametric down conversion, ultrafast lattice dynamics, the measurement of acoustic pulse propagation with x-rays, and nonlinear response functions for x-ray laser pulses. Since the figures in the book were generated in color but printed in black and white, the accompanying CD-ROM contains the color versions and some additional graphical material. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR