Laser raman spectroscopy

Laser raman spectroscopy

Book Reviews term ezact physics is not in line with current usage). The artificiality of his classification explains his strange characterization, “Pe...

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Book Reviews term ezact physics is not in line with current usage). The artificiality of his classification explains his strange characterization, “Perhaps physique esperimentale gave the curiosity, engineering the reality, and rational analysis the harmony that characterize physics.” Confusion always lurks in the missing of old words and new concepts, as in this instance, when the author speaks of “specific weight”, “electrical mass” and “energy loss” (an anachronism). A physicist will be particuarly disturbed by such phrases as “density or magnetic (used intensity”, “magnetic momentum” interchangeably by the author with magnetic moment; action (equal to a weight moved a distance on a friction surface) “is equivalent dimensionally to work” ; he will be dismayed by the loose usage of terms such as theory, law and hypothesis. Even the general reader would appreciate fewer subjective evaluations in words like magnificent, remarkable, beautiful, probably, not likely, undoubtedly (implying some doubt), certainly (implying some uncertainty), perhaps, not necessarily. The reader might expect a more critical analysis than the author’s oft-repeated There is also a phrase : “I believe.” tendency for people to be cited as authorities, and facts invoked as evidence without the reader being given any reason for credence. (In this connection, the average reader would like to be given full names in each case and life spans included.) A typical instance is the suggestive inference, without evidence : “Whatever the merits of Dupuit’s approach, Marin had the power of the Institut of France behind him.” RAYMOND J. SEEGER National Science Foundation Washington, D.C. LASER RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY,by Gilson and P. J. Hendra. 266 diagrams, 6 x 9 in. New York, (Interscience), 1970. Price (approx. $5.75).

T. R. pages, Wiley $315.00

This review is written well over two years after completing the manuscript of the book. The rapid development of the field of Laser Raman Spectroscopy reveals

Vol.295,No. 3,Mlarch1973

the fact that some parts of the book (the first comprehensive account of the field in the English language) are already obsolete even after such a short time, whereas other parts will retain their value in the years to come. The book is directed mainly to the chemist familiar with other methods of molecular spectroscopy. The first chapter gives a well-written introduction to the field and leads to a basic understanding of the linear resonance, stimulated, hyper and inverse Raman effects. Experimental problems are treated in the second chapter. After a rather short general discussion a number of commercial Raman spectrometers is desscribed. The fact that the instrument to which most space was devoted went out of production as the book appeared in print, illustrates the limited value of much of this material. Useful suggestions for testing the performance of spectrometers and a description of methods for high-speed recording conclude this chapter. Raman intensities and depolarization ratios are the next subject. Divergence errors are thoroughly treated according to methods developed in an unpublished thesis by I. A. Stenhouse. The results are in agreement with that of other treatments published in the meantime. No attempt is made to familiarize the reader with methods to determine relative (not to talk of absolute) scattering activities of Raman lines. The fourth chapter on single-crystal Raman spectroscopy is the longest one of the book. In spite of this the reviewer does not regard it as a straightforward way toward an understanding of the complicated field by the chemist. A fairly thorough knowledge of group theory is required in order to follow the arguments in some places. A few worked-out examples might have helped to better illustrate the methods that must be applied to observe and to interpret the spectra. Only 10 pages are devoted to Raman spectra of gases so that the material presented is necessarily very limited. In Chap. 6, some results on powders, liquids and solutions are presented which well

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Book Reviews illustrate the potential of laser Raman spectroscopy. The same may be said of Chap. 7 which gives an excellent review of the work done on Raman spectra of polymers. Miscellaneous Raman experiments on spectra of adsorbed layers, electronic and nonlinear Raman effects are treated in the last chapter. The book is concluded with two appendices: a short one describing some types of lasers and a second one in which the results from group theory are presented. The Raman tensors for the crystal fact,or groups are given, together with the character tables in which infrared, Raman and hyper-Raman activity are indicated. It should be pointed out that the Raman tensors for cubic crystals given by Poulet and Mathieu in their new book (1)are more general than those derived by Loudon (2) which were reproduced here. Correlation tables and a list of possible site symmetries complete the material. A list of about 25 books and review articles and 272 references to original papers enable the reader to complement his knowledge from other sources. As an example of the very few false statements in the book, it should be mentioned that Ting’s (3) theory was disproved by Behringer et al. (4) already in 1968, hence it was erroneous to state that it, has “not yet attracted comment from the scientific community”. The book is very well printed and hardly any misprints were found. In spite of a few deficiencies it is a very welcome addition to the library of anyone who is interested in laser Raman spectroscopy. H. W. SCHR~~TTER Sektion Physik Der Universitit Miinchen Miinchen, Germany (1) H. Poulet and J.-P. Mathieu, “Spectres de Vibration et Symetrie des Cristaux”, Paris, Gordon & Breach, 1970. (2) R. Loudon, Adw. Phys., Vol. 13, p. 423, 1964; Vol. 14, p. 621, 1965. (3) C. H. Ting, Spectrochim. Acta, Vol. 24A, p. 1177, 1968. (4) J. Behringer, J. Brandmiiller, K. Klauss and G. Strey, 2. Naturf., Vol. 23a, p. 2121, 1968.

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DYNAMIC WAVES IN CIVIL ENGINEERING, by D. A. Howells, I. P. Haigh and G. Taylor (Eds.). 575 pages, diagrams, 6 x 9 in. New York, John Wiley, 1971. Price $28.50 (approx. 210.95). Dynamic Waves in Civil Engineering represents a collection of excellent papers in a somewhat anemic area-in an engineering sense. The subjects of the various papers are sufficiently varied so that they effectively cover much of the spectrum of civil engineering. Of particular delight are the papers dealing with soil dynamics and structures interaction. This is an area in which much research is needed. The text appears to be principally addressed to the researcher. It effectively defines problem areas, and describes how they can and should be approached. The inclusion of discussions at the end of most of the papers is invaluable. Many of the reviewer’s comments were considered in these discussions. Although it is doubtful that the practicing civil engineer will find the material presented in the text to be of direct use to him, the book’s contribution to research in the area of dynamic analysis of structures will be significant.

JOHNA.LEPORE Towne School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

M~~SSBAUER EFFECT METHODOLOGY, Vol. 6,by I. J. Gruverman (Ed.). 237 pages, diagrams, 6 x 9 in. New York, Plenum Press, 1971. Price $19.50 (approx. 657.50). Volume 6 of this series records the proceedings of the sixth symposium on Miissbauer Effect Methodology. The symposium concentrated on formalism, applications and spectroscopy, methodology and lunar sample investigation. The book is divided into four parts covering these various topics. The first part describes a possible normalization of Mossbauer data with suggestions for unification of the nomenclature used in reporting results in the

Journal of The Franklin Institute