Generalization of the Gyroscopic Model

The promises made in Chaps. 4 and 5 will be fulfilled in this chapter. In the earlier chapters assertions were made about the dynamics of the interactions between matter and radiation that lead to spectroscopic transitions. These assertions were proved for the cases of nuclear and electron magnetic resonance in Chap. 8. The theory used in the magnetic resonance case will now be generalized to cover rotational, vibrational, and electronic transitions. Relaxation processes applicable to microwave, infra-red, and optical spectroscopy will be discussed, as will the optical analogs of coherent transient effects first observed in nuclear magnetic resonance. The first step will be to establish the applicability of the gyroscopic model of the interaction process to electric dipole transitions.