Laser Chemistry Spectroscopy, Dynamics and Applications

by Telle, Helmut H.; Ureñ; a, Angel Gonzá; lez; Donovan, Robert J.

• ISBN13: 9780471485704
• ISBN10: 0471485705
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-05-21
• Publisher: WILEY

Summary

Laser Chemistry: Spectroscopy, Dynamics and Applications provides a basic introduction to the subject, written for students and other novices. It assumes little in the way of prior knowledge, and carefully guides the reader through the important theory and concepts whilst introducing key techniques and applications.

Author Biography

Helmut H. Telle received BSc, MSC and PhD degrees in physics from the University of Koln (Germany), in 1972, 1974 and 1979 respectively. Between 1980 and 1984 he spent research periods at the Department of Chemistry. University of Toronto (Canada), the Centre d' Etude Nucleaire de Saclay (France) and the Laboratoire des Interactions Ioniques, University of Marseille (France), where he has was mainly engaged in research on molecular reaction dynamics exploiting laser spectroscopic techniques, Since 1984 he has been Professor for Laser Physics in the Department of Physics, Swansea University (Wales, UK) where he has pursued research and development of laser systems and spectrscopic techniques for trace detection of atomic and molecular species, applied to analytical problems in industry, biomedicine and the environment. His expertise includes the techniques of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), tuneable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS), resonant ionization mass spectrometry (RIMS) and Raman and near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM). More recently, he has once again returned to his roots associated with fundamental aspects in atomic and  molecular physics, ranging from precision spectroscopy of exotic species, like positronium and anti-hydrogen, to probing of reactions at surfaces utilizing ultra-short laser pulses. he has held visiting appointments at the Centro de Investigacion en Optica. Leon (Mexico), the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain) and at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium).

Angel Gonzalez Urena obtained a chemistry degree from the University of Granada (Spain) in 1968, followed by a PhD in Physical Chemistry from the Complutense University (Madrid, Spain) in 1972. During the period 1972- 1974 he worked in the fields of molecular beam and reaction dynamics at the Universities of Madison (Wisconsin, USA) and Austin (Texas, USA), and in later years at universities in the UK. he became Associate Professor in Chemical Physics in 1974 and Full Professor in 1983, both at the Complutense University of Madrid. His research interests focus mainly on gas-phase, cluster and and surface reaction dynamics, using molecular beam and laser techniques. He was one of the pioneers in measuring threshold energies in chemical reactivity when changing the translation and electronic energy of the reactants, as well as in the measurements of high-resolution spectroscopy of intra-cluster reactions. More recently his interests have branched out into the application of laser technologies to Analytical Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry, Biology and Food Science. he is the head of the Department of Molecular Beams and Lasers at the Instituto Pluridisciplinar (Complutense University, Madrid); for the first 10 years of the institute's existence he also was its first director. he has held visiting appointments at Cambridge University (UK), at the Universite de Paris Sud (France) and at the Academia Sinica, Taiwan National University (Taipei, Taiwan).

Robert J. Donovan graduated (BSc Hons) from the University of Wales in 1962. Following a year in industry, with Procter and Gamble Ltd, he went to Cambridge to do research for his PhD degree. He was appointed a Research Fellow of Gonville and Caius College (Cambridge) in 1966, and in 1970 he moved to the Department of Chemistry at the University of Edinburgh. In 1979 he was appointed professor of Physical Chemistry, and in 1986 he was appointed to the Foundation (1713) Chair of Chemistry at Edinburgh. His research interests lie in the fields of gas-phase energy transfer, photochemistry, reaction dynamics, spectroscopy and atmospheric chemistry. He was one of the pioneers of kinetic spectroscopy in the vacuum ultraviolet and has contributed substantially to the use of lasers and synchrotron radiation for the study of chemical and physical processes involving electronically excited states. His work in the field of spectroscopy has involved extensive studies of Rydberg, ionic and charge-transfer states, using optical-optical double resonance (OODR), resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) and zero kinetic energy (ZEKE) photoelectron spectroscopy. In addition, has applied laser techniques to a number of analytical areas, including LIBS, matrix-assisted laser desorption and ionization (MALDI) and aerosol mass spectrometry (AMS). He has held visiting appointments at the Universities of Alberta (Canada), Gottingen (Germany), Canterbury (New Zealand), the Australian National University at Canberra, the Tokyo Institute of Technology and the Institute for Molecular Science (Okazaki, Japan).

Table of Contents

Preface

About the book

About the authors

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Basic concepts in laser chemistry

Organization of the book

Principles of lasers and laser systems

Atoms and molecules, and their interaction with light waves

Quantum states, energy levels and wave functions

Dipole transitions and transition probabilities

Einstein coefficients and excited-state lifetimes

Spectroscopic line shapes

The polarization of light waves

Basic concepts of coherence

Coherent superposition of quantum states and the concept of wave packets

The basics of lasers

Fundamentals of laser action

Laser resonators

Frequency and spatial properties of laser radiation

Gain in continuous-wave and pulsed lasers

Q-switching and the generation of nanosecond pulses

Mode locking and the generation of picosecond and femtosecond pulses

Laser systems

Fixed-wavelength gas lasers: helium-neon, rare-gas ion and excimer lasers

Fixed-wavelength solid-state lasers: the Nd:YAG laser

Tuneable dye laser systems

Tuneable Ti:sapphire laser systems

Semiconductor diode lasers

Quantum cascade lasers

Non-linear crystals and frequency-mixing processes

Three-wave mixing processes: doubling, sum and difference frequency generation

Optical parametric oscillation

Spectroscopic techniques in laser chemistry

General concepts of laser spectroscopy

Spectroscopy based on photon detection

Spectroscopy based on charged particle detection

Spectroscopy based on measuring changes of macroscopic physical properties of the medium

Absorption spectroscopy

Principles of absorption spectroscopy

Observable transitions in atoms and molecules

Practical implementation of absorption spectroscopy

Multipass absorption techniques

Laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy

Principles of laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy

Important parameters in laser-induced fluorescence

Practical implementation of laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy

Light scattering methods: Raman spectroscopy and other processes

Light scattering

Principles of Raman spectroscopy

Practical implementation of Raman spectroscopy

Ionization spectroscopy

Principles of ionization spectroscopy

Photoion detection

Photoelectron detection

Photoion imaging

Optics and measurement concepts

Reflection, refraction and diffraction

Selected properties of optical materials and light waves

Reflection and refraction at a plane surface

Light transmission through prisms

Light transmission through lenses and imaging

Imaging using curved mirrors

Superposition, interference and diffraction of light waves

Diffraction by single and multiple apertures

Diffraction gratings

Filters and thin-film coatings

Attenuation of light beams

Beam splitters

Wavelength-selective filters

Polarization filters

Reflection and filtering at optical component interfaces

Thin-film coatings

Optical fibres

Principles of optical fibre transmission

Attenuation in fibre transmission

Mode propagation in fibres

Analysis instrumentation and detectors

Spectrometers

Interferometers

Photon detectors exploiting the photoelectric effect

Photodetectors based on band-gap materials

Measuring laser power and pulse energy

Analysis of charged particles for charge, m

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