Contents:

• A Theoretical Outline of Laser Physics and Laser Instabilities (L Narducci): An Introduction to the Theory of the Laser: The Rate Equations
• The Interation of Light and Matter
• The Basic Laser Equation — Homogeneously Broadened Systems
• Steady State Behavior of a Homogeneously Broadened Ring Laser
• Linear Stability Analysis: The Resonant Case
• The Adiabatic Elimination of the Fast Variables
• Linear Stability Analysis: The General Case
• The Single Mode Laser: Deterministic Chaos
• Dynamical Behavior of the Maxwell-Bloch Equations
• The Spectral Analysis of the Output Field
• Theory of a Laser with Inhomogeneous Broadening
• Appendices
• Selected Illustrations and Interpretations of Laser Physics and Laser Instabilities in Experimental Systems (N Abraham): Background Notes for the Discussion of Laser Systems
• Experimental Measurements of Dynamical Instabilities and their Analysis in Single-Mode Inhomogeneously Broadened Lasers
• Other Examples of Dynamical Instabilities and Chaos in Lasers
• Postscript

"It is the best introduction to this aspect of laser physics that I have seen, the level is high enough to be serious but low enough to accessible, and the style is clear and lucid."