This updated edition is both accurate and easy to understand. Written for students, hobbyists, non-specialist engineers and anyone who wants an entry-level introduction to laser technology, this book provides practical, intuitive descriptions of the workings of major types of lasers and their applications. Key topics include: semiconductor lasers...solid-state lasers...gas lasers...laser applications in information processing, medicine, communications, industry and military systems. Clear, succinct, and amply illustrated, this book makes an ideal learning tool and a valuable reference for technical and nontechnical readers alike.
Jeff Hecht has been writing about lasers, optics and fiber optics for more than 35 years. After writing for industry magazine Laser Focus World for several years, he began writing books that explain laser science and technology to newcomers to the field. His books are aimed at readers from middle-school students to professionals. The New York Academy of Sciences gave his book Optics: Light for a New Age, honorable mention as one of the best children's science books in older age group in 1988. His technician-training and self-study book Understanding Fiber Optics is now in its fifth edition, with more than 100,000 copies in print.
After years of writing about new science and technology, he turned to the history of fiber optics, writing City of Light: The Story of Fiber Optics, as part of the Sloan Technology Series. More recently, he wrote BEAM: The Race to Make The Laser, describing the work that led to the world's first laser in 1960.
He continues to write extensively for magazines, covering topics from lasers to dinosaurs for New Scientist magazine, and continuing developments in lasers and photonics for Laser Focus World
