A-Z Atomic Physics has moved back to the forefront of experimental and theoretical research. The ability to isolate and mainpulate single atoms has made possible experiments which would once have been considered inconceivable and has enabled new tests of fundamental quantum theories. This book is aimed at students in the first or second year of a university physics course who are meeting atomic physics for the first time. The basic idea is to discuss the physics of the atom as a topic in its own right not, as often happens, as part of a general course in Quantum Physics, where the essence of the subject is often missed. The aim is to be as rigorous as possible, but not to submerge the student in a mass o mathematical detail. In the first half of this centure, atomic spectroscopy provided the vast majority of the experimenmtal evidence required to build up a detailed picture of atomic structure. The central point of the book is the theory of interaction of atoms with fields, a complex topic often treated very briefly in older introductory texts. Atomic structure and the periodic table are introduced and discussed in enough detail to give a good grounding for further work. Fine structure and couplinmg schemes are discussed briefly, but without too much attention to their complexities. Some of the theory of laser systems that has been included might seem at first sight to be a little out of place, but lasers play such an important part in madern atomic physics that knowledge of their properties is essential.