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Physics 471 - Introduction to Modern Atomic Physics

Day/Time: MWF 02:30 PM - 03:20 PM
Location: KPTC 105

Lecturer: Cheng Chin
Office: GCIS E107
Email: cchin@uchicago.edu

Class format:    14 Lectures, 3 discussions, 2 presentations and 1 lab-tour.

Class outline:

Introduction
Wk1  09/27   W    2:30~3:45    Class Introduction
Wk1  09/29   F    2:30~3:45    Review of Quantum Mechanics
Wk2  10/04   W    2:30~3:45    Review of Atomic Structure
Wk2  10/06   F    2:30~3:45    Review of Scattering Theory  (Homework I and solution)

Modern Atomic Physics
Wk3  10/11   W    2:30~3:45    Ion trap (I)
Wk3  10/13   F    2:30~3:45    Ion trap (II) 
Wk4  10/18   W    2:30~3:45    Early Attempts to trap neutral particles
Wk4  10/20   F    2:30~3:45    Laser cooling and trapping  
Wk5  10/25   W    2:30~3:45    (Discussion) Laser cooling and trapping 
                               (Homework II with solution)
Wk5  10/27   F    2:30~3:45    Bose-Einstein condensation
Wk6  11/01   W    2:30~3:45    (Discussion) Bose-Einstein condensation 
Wk6  11/03   F    2:30~3:45    Optical lattices
Wk7  11/08   W    2:30~3:45    Fermionic superfluidity and BEC-BCS crossover 
                               (Homework III with solution)
Wk7  11/10   F    2:30~3:45    (Discussion) Optical lattices and Fermi gas

Selected Topics
Wk8  11/15   W    2:30~3:45    Topic I: Quantum entanglement and quantum computation
Wk8  11/17   F    2:30~3:45    Topic II: Tests of fundamental symmetry
                               Topic III: Tests of time variation of fundamental constants
Wk9  11/22   W    2:30~3:45    Topic IV: Atom Optics
                  4:00~4:15    Lab tour GCIS ESB11B  
                               (Homework IV with solution)

Wk9  11/24   F                 Thanksgiving -- no class
Wk10 11/29   W                 Teacher out of town -- no class

Student Presentations
Wk10 12/01   F    2:30~3:45    Student Presentation I
Wk11 12/04   M    2:30~3:45    Student Presentation II  

Possible Selected Topics
    Atomic clock and precision measurements
*   Atom Optics
*   Quantum entanglement and quantum computation
*   Tests of fundamental symmetry
*   Time variation of fundamental constants
    Frequency comb
    Ultracold molecules

Related Colloquium and Seminar Talks
Wk5  10/26  Th    Prof. Carl Wieman (2001 Nobel Laureate), University of Colorado    
Wk6  10/30  M     Prof. Chris Greene, University of Colorado
Wk6  10/31  Tu    Prof. Lijun Wang, Max-Plank Research Group and Univ. of 
                  Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany
Wk7  11/09  Th    Prof. Randall Hulet, Rice University

Evaluation
    Problem sets 2/3 
    Presentation or term paper 1/3

Recommended Textbooks
Atomic Physics, C. J. Foot 2005
Atomic Phyiscs, D. Budker, D. F. Kimball, D. P. DeMille 2004