[en] The Selberg zeta function Z(s) yields an exact relationship between the periodic orbits of a fully chaotic Hamiltonian system (the geodesic flow on surfaces of constant negative curvature) and the corresponding quantum system (the spectrum of the Laplace-Beltrami operator on the same manifold). It was found that for certain manifolds Z(s) can be exactly rewritten as the Fredholm determinant det(1-T_s), where T_s is the generalization of the Ruelle-Perron-Frobenius transfer operator. An alternative derivation of this result is presented, yielding a method to find not only the spectrum but also the eigenvalues of the Laplace-Beltrami operator in terms of eigenfunctions of T_s. Various properties of the transfer operator are investigated both analytically and numerically. (author) 15 refs., 10 figs