This book explains the theory and methods by which gas molecules can be polarized by light, a subject of considerable importance for what it tells us about the electronic structure of molecules and properties of chemical reactions. Starting with a brief review of molecular angular momentum, the text goes on to consider resonant absorption, fluorescence, photodissociation and photoionization, as well as collisions and static fields. A variety of macroscopic effects are considered, among them angular distribution and the polarization of emitted light, ground state depopulation, laser-induced dichroism, the effect of collisions and external magnetic and electric field effects. Most examples in the book are for diatomic molecules, but symmetric-top polyatomic molecules are also included. The book concludes with a short appendix of essential formulae, tables for vector calculus, spherical functions, Wigner rotation matrices, Clebsch-Gordan coefficients, and methods for expansion over irreducible tensors.

Presents a clear systematic molecular-based description of nonlinear optical polarization analysis of chemical and biological assemblies.

This book is addressed to upper-level undergraduate and graduate students involved in research in atomic, molecular, and optical physics. It will also be useful to researchers practising in this field. It gives an intuitive, yet sufficiently detailed and rigorous introduction to light-atom interactions with a particular emphasis on the symmetry aspects of the interaction, especially those associated with the angular momentum of atoms and light. The book will enable readers to carry out practical calculations on their own, and is richly illustrated with examples drawn from current research topics, such as resonant nonlinear magneto-opticals. The book comes with a software package for a variety of atomic-physics calculations and further interactive examples that is freely downloadable from the book's web page, as well as additional materials (such as power-point presentations) available to instructors who adopt the text for their courses.

It was not until 1971 that the authority for defining scientific units, the General Conference of Weights and Measures got around to defining the unit that is the basis of chemistry (the mole, or the quantity of something). Yet for all this tardiness in putting the chemical sciences on a sound quantitative basis, chemistry is an old and venerable subject and one naturally asks the question, why? Well, the truth is that up until the mid-1920s, many physicists did not believe in the reality of molecules. Indeed, it was not until after the physics community had accepted Ernest Rutherford's 1913 solar-system-like model of the atom, and the quantum mechanical model of the coupling of electron spins in atoms that physicists started to take seriously the necessity of explaining the chemical changes that chemists had been observing, investigating and recording since the days of the alchemists.

Single Molecule Spectroscopy is one of the hottest topics in today's chemistry. It brings us close to the the most exciting vision generations of chemists have been dreaming of: To observe and examine single molecules! While most of chemistry deals with myriads of molecules, this books presents the latest developments for the detection and investigation of single entities. Written by internationally renowned authors, it is a thorough and comprehensive survey of current methods and their applications.

This rigorous yet accessible guide presents a molecular-based description of nonlinear optical polarization analysis of chemical and biological assemblies. It includes discussion of the most common nonlinear optical microscopy and interfacial measurements used for quantitative analysis, specifically second harmonic generation (SHG), two-photon excited fluorescence (2PEF), vibrational sum frequency generation (SFG), and coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy/stimulated Raman spectroscopy (CARS/SRS). A linear algebra mathematical framework is developed, allowing step-wise systematic connections to be made between the observable measurements and the molecular response. Effects considered include local field corrections, the molecular orientation distribution, rotations between the molecular frame, the local frame and the laboratory frame, and simplifications from molecular and macromolecular symmetry. Specific examples are provided throughout the book, working from the common and relatively simple case studies through to the most general scenarios.

This comprehensive introduction to polarized light provides students and researchers with the background and the specialized knowledge needed to fully utilize polarized light. It provides a basic introduction to the interaction of light with matter for those unfamiliar with photochemistry and photophysics. An in-depth discussion of polarizing optics is also given. Different analytical techniques are introduced and compared and introductions to the use of polarized light in various forms of spectroscopy are provided. - Starts at a basic level and develops tools for research problems - Discusses practical devices for controlling polarized light - Compares the Jones, Mueller, and Poincaré sphere methods of analysis

Optical Polarization in Biomedical Applications introduces key developments in optical polarization methods for quantitative studies of tissues, while presenting the theory of polarization transfer in a random medium as a basis for the quantitative description of polarized light interaction with tissues. This theory uses the modified transfer equation for Stokes parameters and predicts the polarization structure of multiple scattered optical fields. The backscattering polarization matrices (Jones matrix and Mueller matrix) important for noninvasive medical diagnostic are introduced. The text also describes a number of diagnostic techniques such as CW polarization imaging and spectroscopy, polarization microscopy and cytometry. As a new tool for medical diagnosis, optical coherent polarization tomography is analyzed. The monograph also covers a range of biomedical applications, among them cataract and glaucoma diagnostics, glucose sensing, and the detection of bacteria.

University Physics is a three-volume collection that meets the scope and sequence requirements for two- and three-semester calculus-based physics courses. Volume 1 covers mechanics, sound, oscillations, and waves. Volume 2 covers thermodynamics, electricity and magnetism, and Volume 3 covers optics and modern physics. This textbook emphasizes connections between between theory and application, making physics concepts interesting and accessible to students while maintaining the mathematical rigor inherent in the subject. Frequent, strong examples focus on how to approach a problem, how to work with the equations, and how to check and generalize the result. The text and images in this textbook are grayscale.

The various phenomena caused by refraction and diffraction of polarized elementary particles in matter have opened up a new research area in the particle physics: nuclear optics of polarized particles. Effects similar to the well-known optical phenomena such as birefringence and Faraday effects, exist also in particle physics, though the particle wavelength is much less than the distance between atoms of matter. Current knowledge of the quasi-optical effects, which exist for all particles in any wavelength range (and energies from low to extremely high), will enable us to investigate different properties of interacting particles (nuclei) in a new aspect. This pioneering book will provide detailed accounts of quasi-optical phenomena in the particle polarization, and will interest physicists and professionals in experimental particle physics.