Abstract

The nature of light can be known and understood only through its interactions with matter. A few of the new ways that lasers can extend our knowledge of these interactions are discussed. They include methods for eliminating Doppler broadening from thermal motions in gases, such as saturated absorption and polarization spectroscopy. A convenient digital wavemeter for measuring wavelengths of tunable lasers is described. Complicated absorption spectra can be simplified by using a laser to modify the population or polarization of the chosen lower level.

© 1977 Optical Society of America

An analysis of the frequency spectrum of laser light scattered from moving rough objects*

J. Carl Leader
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 67(8) 1091-1098 (1977)

Present and future problems concerning lasers in the far-infrared spectral region*

Paul D. Coleman
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 67(7) 894-901 (1977)

Light–plasma interaction studies with high-power glass laser*

K. R. Manes, H. G. Ahlstrom, R. A. Haas, and J. F. Holzrichter
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 67(6) 717-726 (1977)

Pressure effects of helium, neon, and argon on the hyperfine structure of the first doublet of cesium

E. Bernabeu, F. García Peralta, and J. M. Alvarez
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 67(1) 24-27 (1977)

Application of a two-color free-electron laser to condensed-matter molecular dynamics

Dana D. Dlott and Michael D. Fayer
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 6(5) 977-994 (1989)