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MIT Atomic Physics

Welcome to the MIT Aomic Physics Wiki. This is a collection of reference material that you can edit. Please contribute new content, as well as comments on and improvements to existing material. Our goal is to develop a helpful resource for all students in the field of modern atomic physics.

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Part I Course Notes (8.421)

This material is from MIT 8.421 Atomic Physics I and is only in DRAFT form at the present. You are welcome to edit to correct mistakes and add content.

• 1. Resonances and Two-Level Atoms ....ok to edit
• 2. Atoms ....ok to edit
• 3. Fine Structure and Lamb Shift ....ok to edit
• 4. Effects of the Nucleus on Atomic Structure ....ok to edit
• 6. Atoms in Magnetic Fields ....ok to edit
• 7. Resonance Line Shapes ....ok to edit
• 8. Higher-Order Radiation Processes ....ok to edit
• 9. Two-Photon Excitation ....ok to edit
• 10. Coherence ....ok to edit

Old MIT 8.421 Course Notes (pre-2008)

Part II Course Notes (8.422)

Prof. Dave Pritchard demonstrating classical squeezing with a parametrically driven pendulum oscillator see video

This material is from MIT 8.422 Atomic Physics II and is only in DRAFT form at the present. This material will be actively edited around when coresponding subjects are discussed in class.

• 1: Introduction to Atomic Physics
• 2: Quantum light: states and dynamics
• 3: Optical Bloch equations
• 4: Photon-atom interactions
• 5: Light forces
• 6: Bose-Einstein condensates
• 7: Ion traps and quantum information
• 8: Frontiers in Atomic Physics

Sample Topics

• Interferometer shot noise limit
• Non-classical states of light
• Squeezed light interferometry
• Interferometer Heisenberg limit

Useful Resources

• MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms
• JILA Center for Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
• Caltech quantum optics wiki

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