This book discusses many advances in optical physic, and is aimed at advanced undergraduates taking courses in atomic physics, or graduate students in the fields of lasers, astrophysics, and physical chemistry. The book is intended mainly for experimentalists, and the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with free atoms is introduced using classical or semi-classical calculations wherever possible. Topics discussed include the spontaneous emission of radiation, stimulated transitions and the properties of gas and turnable dye lasers, and the physics and applications of resonance fluorescence, optical double resonance, optical pumping, and atomic beam magnetic resonance experiments.
1. Introduction 2. Review of Classical Electrodynamics 3. Review of Quantum Mechanics 4. The Spontaneous Emission of Radiation 5. Selection Rules for Electric Dipole Transitions 6. Measurement of Radiative Lifetimes of Atoms and Molecules 7. Forbidden Transitions and Metastable Atoms 8. The Width and Shape of Spectral Lines 9. The Absorption and Stimulated Emission of Radiation 10. Radiative Transfer and the Formation of Spectral Lines 11. Population Inversion Mechanisms in Gas Lasers 12. Resonant Modes of Optical Cavities 13. Saturation Characteristics and the Single-Frequency Operation of Gas Lasers 14. Turnable Dye Lasers and Atomic Spectroscopy 15. The Hanle Effect and the Theory of Resonance Flourescence Experiments 16. Optical Double Resonance Experiments 17. Optical Pumping Experiments 18. The Hyperfine Structure of Atoms and its Investigation by Magnetic Resonance Methods Appendix