Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on New Developments in Optics and Related Fields, in Erice, Sicily, Italy, 6-21 June, 2005

This volume presents the Proceedings of the Institute “New Development in Optics and Related Fields,” held in Erice, Sicily, Italy, from the 6th to the 21st of June, 2005. This meeting was organized by the International School of Atomic and Molecular Spectroscopy of the “Ettore Majorana” Center for Scientific Culture. The purpose of this Institute was to provide a comprehensive and coherent treatment of the new techniques and contemporary developments in optics and related fields. Several lectures of the course addressed directly the technologies required for the detection and identification of chemical and biological threats; other lectures considered the possible applications of new techniques and materials to the detection and identification of such threats. Each lecturer developed a coherent section of the program starting at a somewhat fundamental level and ultimately reaching the frontier of knowledge in the field in a systematic and didactic fashion. The formal lectures were complemented and illustrated by additional seminars and discussions. The course was addressed to workers in spectrosco- related fields from universities, laboratories and industries. Senior scientists were encouraged to participate. The Institute provided the participants with an opportunity to present their research work in the form of short seminars or posters. The secretary of the course was Ottavio Forte.

Lectures.- Spectroscopy of photonic atoms: a means for ultra-sensitive specific sensing of bio-molecules.- Laser sources for high resolution sensing.- Relaxation and decoherence: what's new?.- Challenges for current spectroscopy: detection of security threats.- Sources for threat detection.- Yb3+-doped CaF2 fluoride as an example of our research approach in solid-state laser-type crystals.- Terahertz sensing and measuring systems.- Ultrafast spectroscopy of biological systems.- Luminescence spectroscopy of solids: localized systems.- Laser spectrometers for atmospheric analysis.- Sensitive detection techniques in laser spectroscopy.- Luminescence spectroscopy of solids: delocalized systems.- Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS).- Optical spectroscopy of semiconductor quantum structures.- ZnO rediscovered – once again!?.- Coherent spectroscopy of semiconductor nanostructures.- Dynamics of upconversion in laser crystals.- Waveguide fabrication methods in dielectric solids.- Spectral properties of films.- Basic physics of semiconductor laser.- Judd-Ofelt theory: principles and practices.- Periodic dielectric and metallic photonic structures.- Cooling and trapping of atoms.- Non-linear propagation of femtosecond terawatt laser pulses in air and applications.- Spectroscopy of the gap states in Ge based on its neutron transmutation doping kinetics.- Interdisciplinary lectures.- The status of unified theories of fundamental interactions.- Angular momentum of the human body.- Climate change and global security.- Seminars.- Seminars.- Posters.- Posters.

This volume presents the Proceedings of the Institute “New Development in Optics and Related Fields,” held in Erice, Sicily, Italy, from the 6th to the 21st of June, 2005. This meeting was organized by the International School of Atomic and Molecular Spectroscopy of the “Ettore Majorana” Center for Scientific Culture. The purpose of this Institute was to provide a comprehensive and coherent treatment of the new techniques and contemporary developments in optics and related fields. Several lectures of the course addressed directly the technologies required for the detection and identification of chemical and biological threats; other lectures considered the possible applications of new techniques and materials to the detection and identification of such threats. Each lecturer developed a coherent section of the program starting at a somewhat fundamental level and ultimately reaching the frontier of knowledge in the field in a systematic and didactic fashion. The formal lectures were complemented and illustrated by additional seminars and discussions. The course was addressed to workers in spectrosco- related fields from universities, laboratories and industries. Senior scientists were encouraged to participate. The Institute provided the participants with an opportunity to present their research work in the form of short seminars or posters. The secretary of the course was Ottavio Forte.