Physics 8.421

 

                             Atomic and optical Physics

 

 

 

Room

Tel.

e-mail

Lecturers:

Prof. Vladan Vuletic

26-231

324-1174

vuletic@mit.edu

 

Prof. Wolfgang Ketterle

26-243

253-6815

ketterle@mit.edu

Assistants:

Marko Cetina

 26-225

 452-4387

mcetina@mit.edu

 

Ye-ryoung Lee

 26-255

 452-4420

yeryoung@mit.edu

 

Ian Leroux

 26-217

 452-4793

idleroux@mit.edu

 

Christian Sanner

 26-259

 253-5926

sanner@mit.edu

 

Monika Schleier-Smith

 26-217

452-4793

schleier@mit.edu

Secretary:

Joanna Keseberg

26-237

253-6830

j_k@mit.edu

 

Lectures:     Mondays, Wednesday, 9:30-11:00, Room 4-145  

                        First day of classes: Wed, 2/6

 

Office hours:  by appointment (just send an e-mail ….)

 

Midterm exam:  in class (9.30 - 11am) on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008.

Midterm Exam                        Solution

Histogram for the midterm exam

Previous midterm exams    2004    2006

 

 

Homework

Assignment 1 (due Mon 2/25)

Solutions 1

Assignment 2 (due Mon 3/3)

Solutions 2

Assignment 3 (due Wed 3/12)

Solutions 3

Assignment 4 (due Wed 3/19)

Solutions 4

Assignment 5 (due Fri 4/4)

Solutions 5

Assignment 6 (due Fri 4/11)

Solutions 6

Assignment 7 (due Wed 4/23)

Solutions 7

Assignment 8 (due Mon 4/28)

Solutions 8

Assignment 9 (due Mon 5/5)

Solutions 9

Assignment 10 (due Mon 5/5)

Solutions 10

 

MIT grade management

Recommended books     Course requirements

2006 web site

 

Lecture Notes:

Lecture 1

Lecture 2

Lecture 3

Lecture 4

Lecture 5                     (electronic structure of one and two-electron atoms)

Lecture 6                     (Fine structure and lamb shift)

Lecture 7&8                (HFS, Isotope effects)      Hydrogen spectroscopy

Lecture 9                     (Atoms in external magnetic fields)

Lecture 10                   (Atoms in external electric fields)

Lecture 11                   (Atom-light interaction: Einstein rate equations)

Lecture 12                   (Atom-light interaction: interaction Hamiltonian, strong monochromatic field, broadband excitation)

Lecture 13                   (Quantization of em field, Einstein A coefficient)

Lecture 14                   (dressed atom, selection rules, weak narrowband excitation)

Lecture 14A               

Lecture 15                   Lineshapes:  simple models

Lecture 16                   Lineshapes:  general perturbation theory

Lecture 17                   Lineshapes of confined particles and Dicke narrowing

Lecture 18                   Fluorescence and pressure broadening

Lecture 19                   Higher-order radiation processes

Lecture 20                   Two-photon processes I

Lecture 21                   Two-photon processes II

Lecture 22                   Coherence: Two-level systems

Lecture 23                   Coherence: Three-level systems, CPT, EIT

Lecture 24                   Coherence: EIT, STIRAP

Lecture 25                   Coherence: Fano profiles, slow light

Lecture 26                   Superradiance, Raman superradiance, catching light

 

 

 

Additional reading:

For lectures 1/2:           Feynman, “The origin of the refractive index”, from “Lectures on Physics I”, lecture 31.

 

                                    D. J. Wineland, J. J. Bollinger, W. M. Itano, F. L. Moore, and D. J. Heinzen, “Spin squeezing and reduced quantum noise in spectroscopy,” Phys. Rev. A 46, R6797 (1992). This is a research paper on the quantum mechanical noise in precision measurements, and how correlated quantum mechanical states can be used to improve the signal-to-noise ratio.

 

                                    D. J. Wineland, J. J. Bollinger, W. M. Itano, and D. J. Heinzen, “Squeezed atomic states and projection noise in spectroscopy,” Phys. Rev. A 50, R67 (1994). Follow-up paper on the previous research paper.

 

For lecture 7:               D. J. Heinzen and M. S. Feld, “Vacuum Radiative Level Shift and Spontaneous-Emission Linewidth of an Atom in an Optical Resonator”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 59, 2623 - 2626 (1987). This paper reports the observation of the effect of a resonator on the radiative level shift (part of the Lamb shift).

 

For lecture 8:               Original paper on Lamb shift (1947)

                                    State of the art in hydrogen precision spectroscopy:

                                    Hänsch 1994   Biraben 1999

For lecture 17:             Book section by Demtröder on pressure broadening and shifts

For lecture 24:             research paper on dark-state transfer between different locations