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CONTENIDO:

Our concept for a new handbook on electro-optics integrates sources, materials, detectors and on-going applications. The field of electro-optics now encompasses both incoherent optical sources and lasers that operate from the millimeter wavelength region to the x-ray region. In this handbook we provide coverage of the most important laser sources in this wavelength range. Having chosen a broad range of wavelengths from our sources, we then define the properties of the materials through which these sources might travel. From there we consider the de- tectors that might be used to observe them. When all the components have been covered, we consider the applications for which electro-optical systems can be used. The applications for electro-optics systems is growing at a phenomenal rate and will most likely do so for the next fifty years or more. Applications range from the astronomical to the microscopic. Laser systems can track the moon and detect small quantities of atmospheric pollution. Laser beams can trap and suspend tiny bacteria and help measure their mechanical properties. They can be used to clip sections of DNA. The applications that we have included in this handbook are only the beginning of applications for this field. This handbook is intended as a reference book. It can be used as a starting place to learn more about sources, materials, detectors and their use and applications. Most chapters have a considerable list of references to original research articles, or else refer to books that contain such lists of references. Liberal use is made of tables of data and illustrations that clarify the text. The authors are all experts in their fields. We make no statement that this handbook is complete although it was our goal to work toward complete coverage of this field. It is a dynamic field continually advancing and changing. We hope to follow these changes and to strive for further completeness in future editions. We believe electro-optics will be part of a new field with new ways of transferring knowledge. We hope to use these new fields to find additional ways to present data and knowledge that will be even more comprehensive.