Atomic and Optical Physics I

A vector rotates around a vertical axis with rotation angle of θ.

Magnetic moment precessing in a magnetic field. Atoms are often described as two-level systems, and their dynamics is identical to a magnetic moment driven by time-dependent magnetic fields. (Courtesy of Prof. Wolfgang Ketterle).

Instructor(s)

MIT Course Number

8.421

As Taught In

Spring 2014

Level

Graduate

Cite This Course

Course Features

Course Description

This is the first of a two-semester subject sequence that provides the foundations for contemporary research in selected areas of atomic and optical physics. Topics covered include the interaction of radiation with atoms: resonance; absorption, stimulated and spontaneous emission; methods of resonance, dressed atom formalism, masers and lasers, cavity quantum electrodynamics; structure of simple atoms, behavior in very strong fields; fundamental tests: time reversal, parity violations, Bell's inequalities; and experimental methods.

Wolfgang Ketterle. 8.421 Atomic and Optical Physics I, Spring 2014. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare), http://ocw.mit.edu (Accessed). License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA


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