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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.

Part I Course Notes (8.421)

• 1. The two-state systems: Resonance
• 2. Atoms – some basics Helium atom
• 3. Fine structure and Lamb shift
• 4, 5 Hyperfine structure; Magnetic fields
• 6. Atoms in electric fields Index of refraction
• 7. Interaction of an Atom with an Electro-Magnetic Field, Einstein’s A and B coefficient, Saturation of transitions
• 8. Line shapes
• 9. Two-photon transitions
• 10. Coherence
• 11. Precision measurements in atomic physics

Old MIT 8.421 Course Notes (pre-2008)

This material, from MIT 8.421 Atomic Physics I is being updated as of 2008

Part II Course Notes (8.422)

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

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