Magnetic moment precessing in a magnetic field. Atoms are often described as two-level systems, and their dynamics is identical to a magnetic moment driven by time-dependent magnetic fields. (Courtesy of Prof. Wolfgang Ketterle).
Instructor(s)
Prof. Wolfgang Ketterle
MIT Course Number
8.421
As Taught In
Spring 2014
Level
Graduate
Course Description
Course Features
Educator Features
Course Description
This is the first of a two-semester subject sequence that provides the foundations for contemporary research in selected areas of atomic and optical physics. Topics covered include the interaction of radiation with atoms: resonance; absorption, stimulated and spontaneous emission; methods of resonance, dressed atom formalism, masers and lasers, cavity quantum electrodynamics; structure of simple atoms, behavior in very strong fields; fundamental tests: time reversal, parity violations, Bell's inequalities; and experimental methods.