husayn gokal
Sharjah

MITPhysics8.421

Atomic and Optical Physics I

planned·~168 hours total

Professor

  • Wolfgang Ketterle

Textbook

  • Atoms and Molecules

    Mitchel Weissbluth · ISBN 9780127447506

Prerequisites

Materials

Ketterle (2001 Nobel Prize in Physics) teaching atomic and optical physics from the ground up. Atomic structure, light-matter interaction, optical Bloch equations — the foundation for laser cooling, BEC, atomic clocks.

Syllabus

  1. Week 1

    Atomic structure recap; hydrogen atom

  2. Week 2

    Fine and hyperfine structure

  3. Week 3

    Multi-electron atoms; LS and jj coupling

  4. Week 4

    Atomic states in external fields — Zeeman, Stark

  5. Week 5

    Light-matter interaction; dipole approximation

  6. Week 6

    Rabi oscillations; Bloch equations

  7. Week 7

    Spontaneous and stimulated emission

  8. Week 8

    Optical Bloch equations

  9. Week 9

    Resonance fluorescence

  10. Week 10

    Two-level and three-level atoms

  11. Week 11

    Coherent and incoherent processes

  12. Week 12

    Introduction to laser cooling