
Preface to the First Edition
What do we understand about “ultrashort laser pulse phenomena”? It really
takes a whole book to define the term. By ultrashort we mean femtosecond (fs),
which is a unit of time equal to 10
−15
s. This time scale becomes accessible
because of progress in the generation, amplification, and measurement of ultra-
short light pulses. Ultrashort phenomena involve more than just the study of
ultrashort lived events. Because of the large energy concentration in a fs optical
pulse, this topic encompasses the study of the interaction of intense laser light
with matter, as well as the transient response of atoms and molecules and basic ...