Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Eastham's book is unique among the many introductions to lasers in its appeal to the sort of person who is, or who aspires to become, a physicist. It is a very complete introduction, covering topics not generally found in introductory works but that a student might encounter, say, in becoming involved in a research project concerning lasers. References are to definitive books rather than to the research literature. This volume is well organized and imparts a sense of the rhythm with which the various strains underlying the field are interwoven. It is also sophisticated and requires of the reader a decent grounding in the concepts and terminology of atomic physics and electromagnetic theory. The early chapters are abstract-magnitudes of quantities are illustrated later in the book. By the same token, it is a book to which a student will be apt to return and find more advanced topics that will fall into the broad scheme of laser physics. Recommended.-S.J. Petuchowski, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center