Laser Spectroscopy IV. Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference Rottach-Egern, Fed. Rep. of Germany, June 11-15, 1979.

The Fourth International Conference on Laser Spectroscopy (FICOLS) was held in the Hotel Oberfahrt in Rottach-Egern, Tegernsee, June 11-15, 1979. Rottach-Egern is a well-known health resort situated on the southern end of Lake Tegernsee. As with the previous laser spectroscopy conferences in Vail, Megeve, and Jackson, the purpose of FICOLS was to provide ~n informal setting where an international group of scientists active in laser spectroscopy could discuss current problems and developments in the field. The program consisted essen­ tially of invited lectures with appropriate time provided for the latest postdeadline results. The conference was attended by 340 scientists representing 25 countries: Austria, Australia, Brazil, Canada,- Peoples Re­ public of China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany (FRG), Germany (GDR), Great Britain, India, Italy, Japan, Nether­ lands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, U.S.k,, U.S.S.R., and Yugoslavia. Unfortunately five of our colleagues from Japan who planned to attend the meeting could not come due to an interruption of airline schedules, Their absence was a distinct loss to the conference. However, their papers will be published in one of the forthcoming issues of the journal Applied Physics. Numerous people have contributed to making the conference a success. Especially we would like to thank the members of the steering committee for their advice concerning the program.

Historical Perspectives in Laser Spectroscopy.- I. Fundamental Physical Applications of Laser Spectroscopy.- An Improved Test of the Isotropy of Space Using Laser Techniques.- Suggestion and Analysis for a New Optical Test of General Relativity.- High Resolution Spectroscopy of Atomic Hydrogen.- Direct Frequency Measurement of the 260 THz (1.15 ?m) 20Ne Laser: And Beyond.- Transverse Resonance-Radiation Pressure on Atomic Beams and the Influence of Fluctuations.- Deflection of a Na Beam by Resonant Standing Wave Radiation.- Laser Cooling of Ions Bound to a Penning Trap.- Preparation, Cooling, and Spectroscopy of Single, Localized Ions.- II. Two and Three Level Atoms/High Resolution Spectroscopy.- Theories of Laser Bandwidth Effects in Spectroscopy.- Interaction of Two Resonant Laser Fields with a Folded Doppler Broadened System of I2.- Compensation of Doppler Broadening by Velocity-Dependent Light-Shifts.- Multiple Coherent Interaction in Optical Separated Fields.- High Resolution Spectroscopy of Calcium Atoms.- High Resolution Two-Photon Spectroscopy of Rb Rydberg Levels.- High Resolution Saturation Spectroscopy with CO2 Lasers. Application to the v3 Bands of SF6 and OsO4.- High Resolution Laser Spectroscopy of Small Molecules.- Single Molecular Isotope Absorption-Spectra.- High Resolution Coherent Raman Spectroscopy of Gases.- Doppler-Free Optogalvanic Spectroscopy.- Laser Saturation Spectroscopy with Optical Pumping.- Doppler-Free Intracavity Polarization Spectroscopy.- Forward Scattering and Polarization Spectroscopy.- Spectroscopic Studies into Elastic Scattering of Excited Particles.- III. Rydberg States.- Stark Ionization of Rydberg States.- Rydberg States and Microwaves: High Resolution Spectroscopy, Masers, and Superradiance.- High Resolution Spectroscopy of Rydberg States.- Term Values, Pressure Broadenings and Shifts in High Rydberg Levels of Rubidium.- Doubly Excited Alkaline Earth Atoms.- Selective Detection of Single Atoms by Multistep Excitation and Ionization Through Rydberg States.- IV. Multiphoton Dissociation, Multiphoton Excitation.- Classical Model of SF6 Multiphoton Dissociation.- Collisionless Multiple Photon Excitations in SF6: Thermal or not?.- Resonant Multiphoton Dissociation of Small Molecules.- Double Resonance Spectroscopy of Multiple-Photon Excited Molecules.- Spectroscopy of Photodissociation Products.- V. Nonlinear Processes, Laser Induced Collisions, Multiphoton Ionization.- Recent Progress in Four-Wave Mixing Spectroscopy.- Laser Induced Collisional and Radiative Energy Transfer.- Laser Bandwidth and Intensity Effects in Multiphoton Ionization of Sodium.- Saturation and Stark-Splitting of Resonant Transitions in Stochastically Fluctuating Laser Fields of Arbitrary Bandwidth.- VI. Coherent Transients, Time Domain Spectroscopy.- Two-Pulse Spectroscopy with Picosecond Laser Pulses.- Spectroscopy of Photoreaction Centres by Tunable Picosecond Parametric Oscillators.- Ultraslow Optical Dephasing of Pr3+: LaF3.- Optical Coherence Storage in Spin States.- Time-Resolved Infrared Spectral Photography.- VII. Optical Bistability, Superradiance.- Theory of Optical Bistability.- Controlling Light with Light: Optical Bistability and Optical Modulation.- Theory of Superfluorescence.- Quantum Theory of Superfluorescence.- Experiments on the Initiation and Coherence Properties of Superfluorescence.- Coupled Transitions in Superradiance.- VIII. Laser Spectroscopic Applications.- Phase Conjugate Optics.- Laser-Induced Selective Multistep Processes: Impact on Nuclear Physics, Chemistry and Biology.- Laser Spectroscopy of Short-Lived Isotopes in Fast Atomic Beams and Resonance Cells.- Hyperfine Spectroscopy of Radioactive Alkali Isotopes.- Atomic Beam Laser Spectroscopy of Radioactive Ba Atoms.- Dye Laser Saturation Spectroscopy with Beams of Atoms and Ions.- Laser Induced Nuclear Orientation.- Information on Nuclear Quadrupole Moments from Laser-rf Double-Resonance Spectroscopy.- Laser-rf Double-Resonance Spectroscopy.- cw VUV Generation and the Diagnostics of the Hydrogen Plasma.- IX. Laser Sources.- Tunable Transition-Metal-Doped Solid State Lasers.- New Methods for the Generation of Ultrashort Dye Laser Pulses.- Optically Pumped Molecular Lasers.- Nd:YAG Pumped Tunable Sources and Application to ?(3) Spectroscopy.- X. Postdeadline Papers.- Atomic-Beam and Resonance Spectroscopy of Alkali and Alkaline-Earth Atoms.- Observation of Transient and Stationary Zeeman Coherence by Polarization Spectroscopy.- Experimental Evidence for Light-Shift Induced Zero-Field Level Crossing (“Optical Hanle Effect”).- Diamagnetic and Collisional Perturbations of Caesium Rydberg States.- Collisional Effects in the Saturation Spectroscopy of Three-Level Systems: Theory and Experiment.- Double-Quantum Saturation Spectroscopy with Lasers and rf.- High Resolution Spectroscopy in Helium.- Doppler-Limited Spectroscopy of the 3 v3 Band of SF6.- Stimulated Level Shifting and Velocity Inversion in UV-Laser-Excited Photofragments.- Multiphoton Ionization Mass Spectrometry.- Standing Wave Saturation Effects in Coupled Three-Level Systems: IR-FIR Transferred Lamb-Dip in Optically Pumped Molecular Lasers.- Laser Spectroscopy in Intense Magnetic Fields.- Real-Time Picosecond Measurements of Electronic Energy Transfer from DODCI to Malachite Green and DQOCI.- Quantum Beats in Triplet States of Phosphorescent Molecules Following Laser Flash Excitation.- Doppler-Free Optoacoustic Spectroscopy.- Pulsed Opto-Acoustic Spectroscopy of Liquids.- Design and Performance of a Broadband “Optical Diode” to Enforce One-Direction Traveling Wave Operation of a Ring Laser.- Index of Contributors.