Plasma harmonics is a new field of laser spectroscopy. The use of the solid elements of the periodic table, together with thousands of complex solid-state samples, largely extends the range of materials employed in plasma harmonics in contrast to the few light rare gases that are typically used. Thus the exploration of practically any available solid-state material through nonlinear spectroscopy comprising laser ablation and harmonic generation can be considered a new tool for materials science. Plasma harmonic spectroscopy exploits the spectral and structural properties of various ablated solid-state materials by propagating short laser pulses through laser-produced plasma and generating high-order harmonics of ultrashort laser pulses.
The book describes the special features of plasma harmonics in laser-produced ablation plumes and discusses a wide range of nonlinear medium characteristics that can be produced by varying the conditions of laser plume production on the surface of a solid.
This book compiles and details cutting-edge research in science and medicine from the interdisciplinary team of the Michigan Nanotechnology Institute for Medicine and Biological Sciences, who are currently revolutionizing drug delivery techniques through the development of engineered nanodevices. Edited by Istvan J Majoros and James Baker, Jr., two prominent nanotechnology researchers, this book is designed for workers involved in nanotechnology, macromolecular science, cancer therapy, or drug delivery research.

Table of Contents
Preface;
Why plasma harmonics?
A very brief introduction
Early stage of plasma harmonic studies - hopes and frustrations
New developments in plasma harmonics studies: first successes
Improvements of plasma harmonics;

Theoretical basics of plasma harmonics;
Basics of HHG
Harmonic generation in fullerenes using few-cycle pulses
Various approaches for description of observed peculiarities of resonant enhancement of a single harmonic in laser plasma
Two-colour pump resonance-induced enhancement of odd and even harmonics from a tin plasma
Calculations of single harmonic generation from Mn plasma;

Low-order harmonic generation in plasma plumes using nanosecond and picoseconds driving pulses
Low-order harmonic generation in metal ablation plasmas in nanosecond and picosecond regimes
Low-order harmonic generation in nanosecond laser ablation plasmas of carbon containing materials
Comparative studies of third harmonic generation in plasma plumes using picosecond and femtosecond laser pulses
Low-order harmonic generation of 1064 nm radiation in long plasma plumes;

High-order harmonic generation in plasma plumes using picosecond pulses
Harmonic generation of picosecond Nd:YAG laser radiation in metal ablation-produced plasmas
High-order harmonic generation of picosecond laser radiation in carbon-containing plasmas
Resonance enhancement of harmonic generation of 1064 nm picosecond radiation in lead plasma;

Plasma HHG using femtosecond pulses
Current status of plasma HHG studies
Stable generation of high-order harmonics of femtosecond laser radiation from laser produced plasma plumes at 1 kHz pulse repetition rate
High-order harmonic generation in graphite plasma plumes using ultrashort laser pulses: a systematic analysis of harmonic radiation and plasma conditions
Isolated sub-femtosecond XUV pulse generation in Mn plasma ablation;

Characterization of plasma harmonics
High-order harmonic cutoff frequency in atomic silver irradiated by femtosecond laser pulses: theory and experiment
Calculations of plasma formation for harmonics generation
Comparison of high-order harmonic generation in uracil and thymine ablation plumes

Recent achievements in plasma harmonics
High-order harmonic generation in fullerenes using few- and multi-cycle pulses of different wavelengths
Single active electron simulation of harmonic generation in C60
Ablation of nanoparticles and efficient harmonic generation using 1 kHz laser
Resonant and nonresonant frequency conversion of laser radiation in the plasmas produced using 1 kHz picosecond and femtosecond pulses
Harmonics from the plasmas of different consistence at variable delays between the heating and driving 1 kHz pulses
Summary.
Perspectives of plasma harmonics