LASER LIGHT DYNAMICS vol 2 - HAKEN.pdf

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LASERTIGHTDYNAMICS
NOR]H HOttAND
LIGHT
Volume 2
LASER LIGHT DYNAMICS
H. HAKEN
It! jrirut fur Theoretische Physik, Stuttgart
\ORTH-HOLLAND PHYSICS PUBLISHING
if1STERDAM. NEW YORK . OXFORD. TOKYO
Preface to the Preface
Dear Reader,
Before you read this book, and even its preface, the following remarks
might be useful to you. Since this book is "Volume 2" you may be inclined
to believe that you must know all the contents of "Volume 1" before you
can start reading (and, of course, understanding) "Volume 2". But this is
not the case. The present "Volume 2" again starts at a rather elementary
level, and then proceeds step by step to more difficult matters. Only at these
later stages some more advanced theoretical background is required which
then can be taken from "Volume I". I have chosen this way of presentation
to make the theory of laser light accessible to a broad audience-ranging
from students at the beginning of their graduate studies to professors and
scientists interested in recent developments. For details on the relations
between the chapters of these books consult the list at the end of the
introduction.
H. Haken
Preface
This book is a text which applies to students and professors of physics.
Because it offers a broad view on laser physics and presents most recent
results on the dynamics of laser light, such as self-pulsing and chaos, it will
be of interest also to scientists and engineers engaged in laser research or
development. This text starts at a rather elementary level and will smoothly
lead the reader into the more difficult problems of laser physics, including
the basic features of the coherence and noise properties of laser light.
In the introductory chapters, typical experimental set-ups and laser
materials will be discussed, but the main part of this book will be devoted
to a theoretical treatment of a great variety of laser processes. The laser, or