This concise and carefully developed text offers a reader friendly guide to the basics of time-resolved spectroscopy with an emphasis on experimental implementation. The authors carefully explain and relate for the reader how measurements are connected to the core physical principles. They use the time-dependent wave packet as a building block for understanding quantum dynamics, progressively advancing to more complex topics. The topics are discussed in paired sections, one discussing the theory and the next presenting the related experimental methods.
A wide range of readers including students and newcomers to the field will gain a clear and practical understanding of how to measure aspects of molecular dynamics such as wave packet motion, intramolecular vibrational relaxation, and electron-electron coupling, and how to describe such measurements mathematically.
About the Author: Thomas Weinacht is a Professor of Physics at Stony Brook University in New York.
He received his B.S. in physics from the University of Toronto 1995 and a Ph.D. in
physics from the University of Michigan in 2000. He started his position at Stony
Brook University in 2002. His research focuses on controlling and following molecular
dynamics with strong-field ultrafast laser pulses. He has published extensively
in both physics and chemistry journals, with an emphasis on interpreting experimental
measurements. His research group has developed a number of experimental techniques,
and he has organized multiple international conferences and workshops in the
field of time-resolved spectroscopy. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society.
Brett Pearson is an Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Dickinson College
in Carlisle, PA. He obtained a B.A. in physics in 1997 from Grinnell College and
then a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Michigan in 2004. He was a postdoctoral
fellow at Stony Brook University before moving to his current position. At Dickinson,
Brett teaches across the curriculum and works with undergraduate students on
research related to both ultrafast pulse shaping and single-photon quantum mechanics.
