Skip to main content

Physics 23800 Atomic Physics

Day/Time: TuTh 11:00am - 12:20pm

Location: KPTC 309             

Lecturer: Cheng Chin, cchin@uchicago.edu

Office Hours: TuTh   1 - 2 pm on Zoom

Grader: Shu Nagata, nagatashu@uchicago.edu

Class outline:

Q1: Precision Measurements (Note 1, Note 2)

 Wk 1  9/28  Tu         Lecture 1: Classical and quantum measurement vide01

 Wk 1  9/30  Th         Lecture 2: Atom-photon interactions (Foot: 7.1, 7.2) video2

 Wk 2  10/5  Tu         Lecture 3: Ramsey spectroscopy (1989 Prize) (Foot: 7.3, 7.4) video3 HW1 HW1Sol

 Wk 2  10/7  Th         Lecture 4: Application: Atom interferometry video4

 Q2: How do you control atoms remotely? (Note 3, Note 4)

 Wk 3  10/12  Tu         Lecture 5 : Radiation force (2018 Prize) (Foot: 7.5, 7.6) video5 HW1 due HW2

 Wk 3  10/14  Th         Lecture 6 : Dipole force (Foot: 7.7,7.8, 9.5, 9.6) video6

 Wk 4  10/19  Tu         Lecture 7: Full QED treatment video 7 HW3

 Wk 4  10/21  Th         Lecture 8: Spontaneous emission and QED video 8 HW2 due

Q3: How do we reach T = 1 nano-Kelvin? (Note 5, Note 6, Note 7)

 Wk 5  10/26  Tu         Lecture 9: Doppler cooling (Foot: 9.1, 9.2, 9.3) video 9

 Wk 5  10/28  Th         Lecture 10: Bose-Einstein condensation (2001 Prize) (Foot: 10.3, 10.4)

 Wk 6  11/2  Tu         Lecture 11: Gross-Pitaevskii equation 1 video 11 HW4

 Wk 6  11/4  Th         Mid-Term MTSol

Q4: New physics at nano-Kelvin temperatures (Note 8)

 Wk 7  11/9  Tu        Lecture 12: Gross-Pitaevskii equation 1

 Wk 7  11/11  Th        Lecture 13: Atomic scattering at low temperatures HW5

 Wk 8  11/16  Tu        Lecture 14: Modern research topic 1 Slides14 video 12

 Wk 8  11/18  Th        Lecture 15: Modern research topic 2 Slides15 video 13 HW6

 Wk10 11/30  Tu        Presentations (I)

 Wk10 12/02  Th       Presentations (II)

Textbook (Recommended) Atomic Physics by Christopher J. Foot, Oxford, 2005

Evaluation    Problem sets: 1/3   Midterms: 1/3  Discussions+Presentations: 1/3

Homeworks and midterms   Each homework contains 2~3 questions; late policy: -10% per day.  Midterms contain 2~3 questions (1 hour, open book, no discussion).