My colleagues and I have been gratefully pleased by the reception accorded to this
volume by the scientific community. This has resulted in the decision to reissue
Laser Spectroscopy of Solids in a second edition. As we had predicted, the activity
in this research area has enjoyed an explosive growth since 1981, thus some of the
contents of the monograph have inevitably become dated. Fortunately, a great deal
of the material has maintained its currency, specially those sections dealing with
theoretical and methodological aspects. We feel consequently that this volume re￾mains viable as an introduction and general reference to this area of spectroscopy.