This university textbook describes in its first three chapters the fundamentals of lasers: light-matter interaction, the amplifying laser medium and the laser resonator. In the fourth chapter, pulse generation and related techniques are presented. The fifth chapter gives a closing overview on different laser types gaining importance currently and in the future. It also contains a set of examples on which the theory learned in the first four chapters is applied and extended.
Born in 1979 in Mannheim, Germany, Marc Eichhorn studied Physics at the Ruprecht-Karls University Heidelberg, Germany, from 1999 to 2003 (when he received his Diploma degree). In 2005 he achieved the Dr. rer. nat. degree at the Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg, Germany and became a Lecturer of Laser Physics at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany, in 2008. He habilitated in experimental physics at the University of Hamburg, Germany, in 2009. Marc Eichhorn has been a Lecturer for laser metrology at the KIT, Karlsruhe, Germany, since 2012.