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