Spectrophysics

This book describes the methods of experimental spectroscopy and their use in the study of physical phenomena. The applications of optical spectroscopy may be grouped under three broad headings: chemical analysis, elucidation of atomic and molecular structure, and investigations of the interactions of radiating atoms and molecules with their environment. I have used the word 'Spectro­ physics' for the third of these by analogy with spectrochemistry for the first and in preference to 'quantitative spectroscopy'. A number of textbooks treat atomic and molecular structure at varying levels of profundity, but elementary spectrophysics is not, so far as I am aware, covered in anyone existing book. There is moreover a lack of up-to-date books on experimental techniques that treat in a fairly elementary fashion interfero­ metric, Fourier transform and radiofrequency methods as well as prism and grating spectroscopy. In view of the importance of spectrophysics in astrophys­ ics and plasma physics as well as in atomic and molecular spectroscopy there seemed a place for a book describing both the experimental methods and their spectrophysical applications.