Marcis Auzinsh is the Rector of the University of Latvia, where he was previously Chairman of the Senate, Dean of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, and Head of Center of Excellence for Basic Research in Nanoscale Physics and Application. He has held visiting positions at universities around the world, and is a Member of Executive Commitee of the European Physical Society.

Dmitry Budker took his PhD at the University of California at Berkeley, where he won the 1994 American Physical Society Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Research in Atomic, Molecular, or Optical Physics. He is now a Professor of Physics there. In 2005 he was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and in 2009 became a American Physical Society Outstanding Referee.

Simon M. Rochester is a Graduate Student Researcher at the University of California at Berkeley, where he holds a NASA Earth System Science Fellowship.

"This is an excellent undergraduate textbook which provides a modern treatment of atom-light interactions from an experimentalist's perspective. I recommend this book to any student who aims for a deep understanding of the concepts in atomic physics and how to apply them to current research topics." --Dieter Jaksch, University of Oxford

"Many modern atomic physics experiments use subtle effects of atom-light interactions, be they the destructive interference associated with coherent superpositons, or the dynamics of optical pumping, or alignment to orientation conversion. Having such topics discussed in a coherent theoretical framework provides an excellent resource." --Ifan Hughes, Durham University

"I highly recommend Optically Polarized Atoms and will probably use it next time I teach my graduate course. ... The book is specifically intended for use in a one-semester course in which the symmetry and angular-momentum aspects of atomic structure and laser-atom interactions are central. ... The level of detail and the clarity of explanations are admirable." --Daniel F. V. James, Physics Today

"The recently published book Optically Polarized Atoms by Marcis Auzinsh, Dmitry Budker and Simon M. Rochester will be a unique and valuable addition to the library of anyone - students or established researchers... It provides a rich mine of information about atomic physics that is hard to find elsewhere. I intend to keep a copy on my shelf of favorite physics books." --William Happer, Princeton University