Physics 250 (Spring 2000)
Selected Hot, Cool, and Ultra-Cold Topics in Atomic Physics
Course topic and philosophy:
Selected Topics in Modern Atomic Physics. The course is aimed at both graduate
students in atomic physics and related fields, as well as at interested
seniors. A list of topics may include (not necessarily in order):
- Geonium
- Testing discrete symmetries in atoms: parity, time-reversal, CPT, spin-statistics
- Nonlinear laser spectroscopy and magneto-optics
- Magnetometry with atoms
- Electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT)
- Adiabatic population transfer
- Squeezed states of light, and atoms, and their applications
- Quantum beats
- Laser cooling and trapping
- Bose-Einstein condensates
- Light-induced drift
- More on how atomic
collisions could actually be fun (atomic states with small collisional
perturbation, spin exchange, trapping molecules, etc.)
The final list of topics will be worked out in the course of the semester and will be influenced by the students' interests. We intend for this course to be different from usual lecture courses in several ways:
I. Student participation. About
half of the material will be presented by the Instructor, and half by the
students. The Instructor will assist students in choosing topics
for presentation in class, and in finding literature necessary for preparation.
Each student is expected to give at least two presentations in the course of
the semester.
II. Aim of the course. Modern atomic physics is a vast field in
itself currently undergoing a remarkable boom. The course will acquaint
students with a number of diverse developments, results and techniques. Because
of the broad spectrum of topics we will touch upon, we will have to sacrifice
the "depth" of the coverage of any given topic. However, we hope that
the course will serve as introduction to literature, which will be a good
starting point for the students in their individual in-depth studies.
III. Course structure will reflect the Instructor's belief that
not all learning should be done in a "sequential" way. In fact, when
we are faced with an issue in the course of research, we very rarely read a
physics book from page one. We believe that it is an important skill to be able
to quickly grasp basic ideas and to make estimates in essentially any branch of
physics. We will practice it in this course.
Time and place: Tu, Th 930-11A, 331 LeConte
Instructor: Assist. Prof. D.
Budker, office: 219 Birge,
labs: B217, 208, 217, 221 and 230 Birge, tel. 643-1829,
e-mail: budker@socrates.berkeley.edu
Research group web page: http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~budker/
Number of units: 2-4. Two 1.5 hr lectures per week.
Homework: There will be several homework sets posted on the course web site. Problems that will be offered in this course will vary in difficulty. Most of them will allow for solutions at different levels - from simple estimates or plausibility arguments to involved calculations. Students are advised to start with the former and then proceed to the latter as far as necessary and/or their current level allows. Collective work on the problems is strongly encouraged; however, each student has to turn in an individual write-up. Problems may or may not be related to the material covered in class; however, they generally will. Some problems may require consulting literature on topics not covered in class.
Final exam: None of that, sorry…
Grades: Grades will be assigned based on homework (50%) and oral presentations in class (50%).
Office hours: Tuesday, 2-3 p.m., 219 Birge.
The Reader: a course Reader containing lecture notes, reprints of research papers, and further references (including videos) will be available in the beginning of the semester.
Recommended texts (there is no
required text):
1. I. I. Sobelman. Atomic Spectra and
Radiative Transitions. Springer, 1992. Advanced text, a favorite atomic
physicist’s desk reference. QC 454 A8 S62
2. S. Stenholm. Foundations of Laser Spectroscopy. Wiley, 1984. An
introductory theoretical text. QC 454.L3 S75
3. A. Siegman. Lasers. University Science Books, c1986. Arguably, the
best book on lasers. QC688 .S561 1986 Reserve
4. N. V. Karlov. Lectures on Quantum Electronics. CRC, 1993. An
excellent introduction into laser physics. QC 689.K3713
5. L. D. Landau and E. M. Lifshits. Quantum Mechanics. This is one of best
texts on quantum mechanics. Includes rigorous treatment of many basic aspects
of atomic physics and has a lot of examples and problems with solutions.
6. N. F. Ramsey. Molecular Beams. Oxford, 1990. This book was first
published in 1956, but it is still an extremely useful reference covering such
topics as gas kinetics, magnetic resonance, atomic hyperfine structure,
traditional molecular-beam techniques and many others.
7. W. Demtroder. Laser Spectroscopy. Springer, 1996. Gives brief and
clear description of basic concepts and many modern spectroscopic techniques.
8. I. B. Khriplovich. Parity Nonconservation in Atomic Phenomena.
Gordon&Breach, 1991. An advanced text reviewing theory and (to a lesser
extent) experiments on P and T violation in atoms, molecules and solids. QC
793.3 S9 K4513
9. Parity Violation in Atoms and Electron Scattering, B. Frois and M. A.
Bouchiat, eds., World Scientific, 1999. A collection of recent review and
research papers on the subject.
10. I. B. Khriplovich and S. K. Lamoreaux, CP violation without strangeness
: electric dipole moments of particles, atoms, and molecules. New York :
Springer-Verlag, c1997. QC793.3.V5 K47 1997
11. W. H. King. Isotope Shifts in Atomic Spectra. Plenum, 1984. Combines
discussion of basic concepts and techniques and an element-by-element review of
the isotope shift data. QC 454 A8 K56
12. H. A. Bethe and E. A. Salpeter. Quantum Mechanics of One- and
Two-electron Atoms. Plenum 1977. A standard reference. QC 174.17.P7 B471
Reserve
13. R. N. Zare, Angular momentum : understanding spatial aspects in
chemistry and physics. New York : Wiley, c1988. Arguably, the best book on
the subject. QC793.3.A5 Z371 1987
14. A. R. Edmonds. Angular momentum in quantum mechanics. Princeton
University Press, 1974. A brief but concise review of angular momentum. QC174.1
.E3 1974
15. R. Loudon. The quantum theory of light. 2nd ed. Oxford :
Clarendon Press ; New York, Oxford University Press, 1983. QC446.2 .L68
1983 Reserve
16. R. W. Boyd. Nonlinear optics. Boston : Academic Press, c1992.
UCB Physics
QC446.2 .B69 1992
17. E.B. Alexandrov, M.P. Chaika, and G.I. Khvostenko, Interference of
atomic states. Berlin ; New York : Springer-Verlag, c1993. QC467 .A38 1993
18. C. Cohen-Tannoudji, Atoms in Electromagnetic Fields, World
Scientific, 1994. QC665.E4 C64 1994
19. H. Metcalf, Laser cooling and trapping, Springer, New York, 1999.
QC689.5.L35 M47 1999
20. Atomic Physics, volumes 9-16. Proceedings of the bi-annual
International Conference on Atomic Physics (ICAP).
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Problem Set |
Due Date |
Solution |
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02/01/2000 |
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02/15/2000 |
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02/29/2000 |
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03/14/2000 |
Soon! |
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04/11/2000 |
Soon! |
Lecture Notes, Electronic Tutorials
Laser cooling: some
very basic ideas
Laser frequency stabilization techniques
Measurements of the fine structure constant: a review
by D. F. Kimball
An optical approach
to BEC in cesium by Mark DePue
Magnetic trapping and evaporative coolingby Eunhwa Jeong
Electric Dipole Moments by Prof. E. D. Commins
MathematicaTM notebook (a very
short lecture note): EDM Hamiltonian
Table-top tests of gravitation by D. F.
Kimball
Why Bose-Einstein condensates interfere? by N. Bramall
Dark states
(J=1->J=0 transition)
MathematicaTM notebook: Two-level quantum
mechanical system with periodic perturbation - elementary tutorial
MathematicaTM notebook (a very short one):
Chemical Potential and BEC temperature calculator
Useful Links, Web Resources
Physics 290 F "Atomic" Seminar
LBNL Table of Isotopes and related links
Web Elements
Periodic Table
The Bose-Einstein Condensation
(BEC) Homepage
Harvard's ITAMP online
talks
Neutron Trapping Demonstrated (Jan. 5, 2000)
NIST F-1 Cesium Fountain Clock (Dec. 29, 1999)
High-resolution spectrum of the 1S0 -> 3D1 Stark-induced transition in atomic ytterbium showing various huperfine and isotope components
If you have comments or suggestions, email me at budker@socrates.Berkeley.edu
Acknowledgment and Disclaimer: This material is based in part upon work supported by
the National Science Foundation under Grant No. PHY-9733479. Any opinions,
findings and conclusions or recomendations expressed in this material are
those of the authors and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF).