PHY 555: Fundamental laser concepts, spontaneous emission, stimulated emission, absorption. Optical amplification. Pumping process. Threshold conditions. Optical resonators. Theories and properties of gaseous, liquid, crystalline, chemical, and semiconductor lasers. Spatial and temporal coherence. Gaussian beams. Fundamentals of holography. Image reconstruction. Fresnel, Fourier, phase, computer holograms. Optical filtering.