Abstract
It was from the study of the emission and absorption of light that such subjects as spectrochemical analysis, atomic physics and quantum mechanics grew and led further to the inventions of the maser and the laser. It was eventually found that the emission and absorption of light by matter took place discretely with an energy quantum or a photon as a unit, and it was this fact which became the foundation of the development of quantum physics during this century. Before deriving Planck’s law of thermal radiation which first showed the necessity of using the quantized energy of light, we shall calculate the mode density of electromagnetic waves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1986 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Shimoda, K. (1986). Emission and Absorption of Light. In: Introduction to Laser Physics. Springer Series in Optical Sciences, vol 44. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-38954-5_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-38954-5_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-16713-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-38954-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive