Atoms in Intense Laser Fields

A unified account of the rapidly developing field of high-intensity laser-atom interactions, suitable for both graduate students and researchers.

C. J. Joachain (Author), N. J. Kylstra (Author), R. M. Potvliege (Author)

9781107424777, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 10 July 2014

582 pages, 103 b/w illus.
24.4 x 17 x 3 cm, 0.92 kg

'The descriptions given by Joachain and co-authors are always extremely clear and complete and therefore this book will certainly remain a masterpiece in the field for several years … very exciting results.' Dimitri Batani, Il Nuovo Saggiatore

The development of lasers capable of producing high-intensity pulses has opened a new area in the study of light-matter interactions. The corresponding laser fields are strong enough to compete with the Coulomb forces in controlling the dynamics of atomic systems and give rise to multiphoton processes. This book presents a unified account of this rapidly developing field of physics. The first part describes the fundamental phenomena occurring in intense laser-atom interactions and gives the basic theoretical framework to analyze them. The second part contains a detailed discussion of Floquet theory, the numerical integration of the wave equations and approximation methods for the low- and high-frequency regimes. In the third part, the main multiphoton processes are discussed: multiphoton ionization, high harmonic and attosecond pulse generation, and laser-assisted electron-atom collisions. Aimed at graduate students in atomic, molecular and optical physics, the book will also interest researchers working on laser interactions with matter.

Part I. Basic Concepts: 1. High-intensity laser-atom physics
2. Theory of laser-atom interactions
Part II. Theoretical Methods: 3. Perturbation theory
4. Floquet theory
5. Numerical integration of the wave equations
6. The low-frequency regime
7. The high-frequency regime
Part III. Multiphoton Atomic Physics: 8. Multiphoton ionization
9. Harmonic generation and attosecond pulses
10. Laser-assisted electron-atom collisions
Appendix
Index.

Subject Areas: Atomic & molecular physics [PHM], Optical physics [PHJ], Physics [PH], Mathematics & science [P]