No abstract available

[en] An introduction to lasers is presented. The general principles of laser physics is reviewed and the chief characteristics of commercial gas lasers, solid state lasers, dye lasers, chemical and molecular lasers, and semiconductor lasers are described. The basic processes involved in various nonlinear optical phenomena are described, including second harmonic conversion, sum and difference frequency generation, triple harmonic generation, parametric conversion, and the stimulated Raman effect

No abstract available

[en] Modern achievements and problems in the sphere of laser thermonuclear fusion (LTF) are presented in a popular form. The fundamentals of physical conception of LTF, developed in the USSR, characteristics of lasers, produced and designed for LTF in the USSR, as well as basic results, achieved in the sphere of LTF at present are considered

[en] This overview presents the laser process, properties of laser light, its application and new development of laser technology

[en] The laser is an essential feature of modern life, from telecommunications to medicine. Its history has been told many times, but Beam focuses on the three intense years from the birth of the idea of the laser to its first demonstration in 1960. Jeff Hecht, a science journalist who has written about lasers and optical physics for the past 30 years, describes the emergence of the concept of a source of coherent optical light. But who really invented the laser? Hecht portrays the varied characters involved at several competing laboratories, examining the dramatic claims and bizarre twists along the road to success. The book's chapters are divided between the different labs, meaning some duplication of material as the different players are affected by the same events. (U.K.)

[en] Abstracts from the papers presented at the conference are compiled

[en] The general topics considered are: x-ray lasers; FELs; solid state lasers; techniques and phenomena of ultrafast lasers; optical filters and free space laser communications; discharge lasers; tunable lasers; applications of lasers in medicine and surgery; lasers in materials processing; high power lasers; dynamics gratings, wave mixing, and holography; up-conversion lasers; lidar and laser radar; laser resonators; excimer lasers; laser propagation; nonlinear and quantum optics; blue-green technology; imaging; laser spectroscopy; chemical lasers; dye lasers; and lasers in chemistry

[en] Short communication

[en] Description is given of a method for generating a beam of electromagnetic energy of predetermined wave-form. The method according to the invention comprises severing an electromagnetic energy pulse into a plurality of time-spaced pulses, then recombining said pulses with a view to obtaining a complex pulse having practically any desired shape. The method can be used in nuclear fusion