Preliminary list of topics for 8.421

Resonance

Classical resonance of a magnetic moment in a magnetic field

Rotating frame, Larmor’s theorem

Rapid adiabatic passage, Landau Zener picture

Quantum mechanical treatment, the dressed atom

Density matrix

Basic properties

Equivalence of all two-level systems

Relaxation times, Bloch equations

One-electron atoms

Spectroscopic notation

Hydrogen, quantum defects, atomic units

Fine structure, Lamb shift, hyperfine structure

Effects of the nucleus

Helium atom

External magnetic fields

g-factor

Weak and strong fields

External electric fields

Role of parity

Polarizability

Beyond quadratic Stark effect

Field ionization

Atoms in oscillating electric fields

Oscillator strength

Index of refraction

Quantization of em. field

Vacuum oscillations

Spontaneous emission

Einstein’s A and B coefficient

Broadband excitation, saturation

Higher-order radiation processes

Selection rules

E1, E2, M1 transitions

Line shifts and broadening

Resonance line shape

Method of separated oscillatory fields

Doppler broadening and recoil shift

Perturbation theory of spectral broadening

Lineshape of confined particles

oscillating emitter

Dicke narrowing

Fluorescence spectrum of dressed atoms

Pressure broadening

Two-photon excitation

Two-photon absorption

Raman processes

Two-photon spectroscopy

Coherence

Within an atom

Quantum beats

Hanle effect, level-crossing spectroscopy

adiabatic population transfer in three-level atoms

electromagnetically induced transparency

Lasing without inversion

Between atoms

Superradiance

Spin echoes

Phase matching

Two atoms

Van der Waals interaction