Jeff Hecht

C. Breck Hitz

James J. Ewing

The only introductory text on the market today that explains the underlying physics and engineering applicable to all lasers Although lasers are becoming increasingly important in our high-tech environment, many of the technicians and engineers who install, operate, and maintain them have had little, if any, formal training in the field of electro-optics. This can result in less efficient usage of these important tools. Introduction to Laser Technology, Fourth Edition provides readers with a good understanding of what a laser is and what it can and cannot do. The book explains what types of laser to use for different purposes and how a laser can be modified to improve its performance in a given application. With a unique combination of clarity and technical depth, the book explains the characteristics and important applications of commercial lasers worldwide and discusses light and optics, the fundamental elements of lasers, and laser modification.? In addition to new chapter-end problems, the Fourth Edition includes new and expanded chapter material on: Material and wavelength Diode Laser Arrays Quantum-cascade lasers Fiber lasers Thin-disk and slab lasers Ultrafast fiber lasers Raman lasers Quasi-phase matching Optically pumped semiconductor lasers Introduction to Laser Technology, Fourth Edition is an excellent book for students, technicians, engineers, and other professionals seeking a fuller, more formal introduction to the field of laser technology.

Introduction to Laser Technology

Holly Schofield

Andrew Dana Hudson

Liam Hogan

Y. M. Pang

Keyan Bowes

Christoph Weber

Nina Munteanu

Thomas Broderick

D. A. Xiaolin Spires

Robert Dawson

Melanie Harding-Shaw

Rivqa Rafael

Floris M. Kleijne

Bo Balder

Stewart C Baker

William Delman

Micah Hyatt

Tris Matthews

Elizabeth Rubio

Lorraine Schein

Vaughan Stanger

Alice Towey

Ramez Yoakeim

An anthology of speculative climate fiction and poetry by authors from around the world. Icebergs in the desert. The oceans of Europa. The depths of love and myth. Evolved future humans. The last stand of redwoods. Frakking freedom fighters. Be inspired to become the change with these works of ingenuity and hope.

Climate in Crisis

Little Blue Marble 2019

Rising Seas, Retreating Coastlines

Shifting Shores

A tutorial introduction to fiber optics, which explains fundamental concepts of fiber optics, components and systems with minimal math. With more than 100,000 copies in print, Understanding Fiber Optics has been widely used in the classroom, for self study, and in corporate training since the first edition was published in 1987. This is a reprint of the 5th edition, originally published by Pearson Education and now available at low cost from Laser Light Press.

Understanding Fiber Optics

Understanding Fiber Optics is the fifth edition of an intuitive introduction to fiber optics widely used as a textbook, for self study, or in corporate training. Packed with diagrams and descriptions, it explains the how fiber optic components and systems work with minimal math. The goal is to help you understand fiber optics, fiber and related optical components, optical measurements, and how fiber optics are used, particularly in communications. --Publisher

City of Light tells the story of fiber optics, tracing its transformation from 19th-century parlor trick into the foundation of our global communications network. Written for a broad audience by a journalist who has covered the field for twenty years, the book is a lively account of both the people and the ideas behind this revolutionary technology. The basic concept underlying fiber optics was first explored in the 1840s when researchers used jets of water to guide light in laboratory demonstrations. The idea caught the public eye decades later when it was used to create stunning illuminated fountains at many of the great Victorian exhibitions. The modern version of fiber optics--using flexible glass fibers to transmit light--was discovered independently five times through the first half of the century, and one of its first key applications was the endoscope, which for the first time allowed physicians to look inside the body without surgery. Endoscopes became practical in 1956 when a college undergraduate discovered how to make solid glass fibers with a glass cladding. With the invention of the laser, researchers grew interested in optical communications. While Bell Labs and others tried to send laser beams through the atmosphere or hollow light pipes, a small group at Standard Telecommunication Laboratories looked at guiding light by transparent fibers. Led by the recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics, Charles K. Kao, they proposed the idea of fiber-optic communications and demonstrated that contrary to what many researchers thought glass could be made clear enough to transmit light over great distances. Following these ideas, Corning Glass Works developed the first low-loss glass fibers in 1970. From this point fiber-optic communications developed rapidly. The first experimental phone links were tested on live telephone traffic in 1977 and within half a dozen years long-distance companies were laying fiber cables for their national backbone systems. In 1988, the first transatlantic fiber-optic cable connected Europe with North America, and now fiber optics are the key element in global communications. The story continues today as fiber optics spread through the communication grid that connects homes and offices, creating huge information pipelines and replacing copper wires. The book concludes with a look at some of the exciting potential developments of this technology.

City of Light: The Story of Fiber Optics

The whole story of laser weapons with a focus on its many interesting characters and sometimes bizarre schemes The laser--a milestone invention of the mid-twentieth century--quickly captured the imagination of the Pentagon as the key to the ultimate weapon. Veteran science writer Jeff Hecht tells the inside story of the adventures and misadventures of scientists and military strategists as they exerted Herculean though often futile efforts to adapt the laser for military uses. From the 1950s' sci-fi vision of the "death ray," through the Reagan administration's "Star Wars" missile defense system, to more promising developments today, Hecht provides an entertaining history. As the author illustrates, there has always been a great deal of enthusiasm and false starts surrounding lasers. He describes a giant laser that filled a Boeing 747, lasers powered like rocket engines, plans for an orbiting fleet of robotic laser battle stations to destroy nuclear missiles, claims that nuclear bombs could produce intense X-ray laser beams, and a scheme to bounce laser beams off giant orbiting relay mirrors. Those far-out ideas remain science fiction. Meanwhile, in civilian sectors, the laser is already being successfully used in fiber optic cables, scanners, medical devices, and industrial cutting tools. Now those laser cutting tools are leading to a new generation of laser weapons that just might stop insurgent rockets. Replete with interesting characters, bizarre schemes, and wonderful inventions, this is a well-told tale about the evolution of technology and the reaches of human ambition.

Lasers, Death Rays, and the Long, Strange Quest for the Ultimate Weapon

Jeff Hecht

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