Optically polarized atoms

1. Optically polarized atoms Simon M. Rochester UC Berkeley Dmitry Budker UC Berkeley and LBNL Textbook to be published by Oxford University Press Marcis Auzinsh University of Latvia

2. Goals of the course • Learn to analyze situations like this: • Survey of interesting topics in AMO (student presentations)

3. Approximate scope of the course • Motivation and preliminaries • Atomic states • Atoms in external electric and magnetic fields • Polarized light • Atomic transitions • Coherence in atoms • Density matrix • “Maxwell-Bloch” equations • Examples

4. Preliminary IThe hierarchy of scales in the electron world • To get into the groove and to introduce some notations, let us write the classical radius of the electron …and the fine-structure constant

5. Let’s see what happens if we divide reby powers of  Characteristic wavelength of atomic radiation Compton wavelength Bohr radius

6. Good books (are hard to find) • Atomic and Laser Spectroscopy by A. Corney • Atomic Spectra and Radiative Transitions by I. I. Sobelman • Quantum Theory of Angular Momentum by D. A. Varshalovich, A. N. Moskalev, and V. K. Khersonskii • Angular Momentum in Quantum Mechanics by A. R. Edmonds • Angular Momentum by R. N. Zare • Polarization of Light by S. Huard • Optical Polarization of Molecules by M. Auzinsh and R. Ferber • Interference of Atomic States by E. B. Alexandrov, M. P. Chaika, and G. I. Khvostenko • The Quantum Theory of Light by R. Loudon • The Physics of Laser-Atom Interactions by D. Suter • Optical Pumping. Principles and Applications by W. Happer, Th. Walker, and K. Bonin – delayed by 9/11 • Atomic Physics by C. J. Foot • Light and Matter by Y. B. Band • Light-Mater Interaction by W. T. Hill, III and C. H. Li • Atomic Physics. An Exploration through Problems and Solutions by D. Budker, D. F. Kimball, and D. P. DeMille

7. Errata http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~budker/papers/pdfs/Atomic_Physics_Errata.pdf