Laser-Induced Chemistry

Abstract

In the preceding chapters, we have looked at a wide range of applications in which the laser is used as a probe for systems of chemical interest. Although the application of laser spectroscopic techniques in particular may result in short-lived changes in molecular energy level populations, the laser does not generally induce any chemical change in the sample; in that sense it is used as a static rather than a dynamic tool. Quite distinct from this is the field of applications in which laser excitation is used specifically to promote chemical reaction. This is a less well explored area and one that largely remains within the province of research and development, commercial applications being few and far between. Nonetheless, the subject encompasses a wide variety of topics, as we shall see. To introduce the subject, we begin with a general overview of the major principles.

May not bodies receive much of their activity from the particles of light which enter into their composition?‘Opticks’,Isaac Newton