Catalog

Atomic and Optical Physics I

Physics MIT CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 25 lectures

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.

Syllabus

  1. 1 Lecture 1: Resonance I
  2. 2 Lecture 2: Resonance II
  3. 3 Lecture 3: Resonance III
  4. 4 Lecture 4: Resonance IV
  5. 5 Lecture 5: Resonance V and Atoms I
  6. 6 Lecture 6: Atoms II
  7. 7 Lecture 7: Atoms III
  8. 8 Lecture 8: Atoms IV
  9. 9 Lecture 9: Atoms V and Atoms in External Fields I
  10. 10 Lecture 10: Atoms in External Fields II
  11. 11 Lecture 11: Atoms in External Fields III
  12. 12 Lecture 12: Atoms in External Fields IV and Atom-light Interactions I
  13. 13 Lecture 13: Atom-light Interactions II
  14. 14 Lecture 14: Atom-light Interactions III
  15. 15 Lecture 15: Atom-light Interactions IV
  16. 16 Lecture 16: Atom-light Interactions V
  17. 17 Lecture 17: Atom-light Interactions VI and Line Broadening I
  18. 18 Lecture 18: Line Broadening II
  19. 19 Lecture19: Line Broadening III
  20. 20 Lecture 20: Line Broadening IV and Two-photon Excitation I
  21. 21 Lecture 21: Two-photon Excitation II and Coherence I
  22. 22 Lecture 22: Coherence II
  23. 23 Lecture 23: Coherence III
  24. 24 Lecture 24: Coherence IV
  25. 25 Lecture 25: Coherence V

Course materials