Laser microanalysis /

This monograph focuses on the use of lasers as analytical tools. The topics covered include laser principles, laser interactions, and laser applications in various analytical methods of spectrometry as applied to chemistry, physics, biology, and minerology. The book is well organized and well written but without depth; it is more a comprehensive review of laser applications than a substantative discussion of specific laser analytical methods. Each chapter has a very comprehensive bibliography, and the author, a well-known researcher in laser technology, has introduced the latest techniques in the field. The book will have very limited use in the undergraduate library. The book would be useful for one seeking a comprehensive review of laser technology as applied to spectrometry. However, there are several publications (i.e., E.H. Piepmeir's Analytical Applications of Lasers, 1986) that would be more helpful as a working reference of laser technology in analytical chemistry. -L. S. Smith, Central State University (OH)