description


This course provides an overview of several topics related to the interaction of light with matter, from a more rigorous intake on standard topics such as seclection rules, one-photon processes and laser cavities to cutting edge topics such as strong-field and attosecond physics and trapping and cooling of neutral atoms.

At the end of the course you are expected to have  a broad idea about these topics. For info on the syllabus click here
 
Please note: The number of hours allocated in the syllabus is tentative. Depending on the topic it may take more or less time. The order and grouping of the topics may also change during the course.

pre-requisites and recommended courses


  • Essential: you will struggle to follow this course if you do not have a background on undergrduate quantum mechanics (Hydrogen atom, spherical harmonics, angular momentum operation, Dirac notation)  and electromagnetism (Maxwell's equations).

  • Desirable: this course complements nicely many topics discussed in the undergraduate courses Atoms and Lasers and Atomic and Molecular Physics at UCL.  Postgraduate quantum mechanics will also increase your understanding and enhance the whole experience.

literature


  • More applied textbooks

    •
    • "Spectrophysics", A. P. Thorne (Chapman and Hall).
    • "Atomic and Laser Spectroscopy", A. Corney (Oxford Classic Texts). It is a very useful book for experimentalists, and it contains a very clear description of most experiments discussed in this course.
    • "Optics", E. Hecht (Addison Wesley).
    • "Optoelectronics", J. Wilson and J. Hawkes (Prentice Hall)

  • More theoretical textbooks

    • "Physics of Atoms and Molecules", Bransden and Joachain (especially chapters 4, 9, 15, 16) . This book will be extensively used for Section 1 of the course. It is a very nice book as far as theory of laser-matter interaction is concerned. It also has some info on trapping and cooling and strong-field and atto physics as well.
    • "Principles of Optics", Born and Wolf
    • "The Quantum Theory of Light",  Loudon
    • "Light" (vol 2: Laser light dynamics), Haken (North Holland, 1985). The laser section is being taken from here to a large extent.
    • "Lasers", Siegman (Univ. Sc. Books, 1986). The laser section is being taken from here to a large extent.
    • "Quantum Electronics",Yariv (John Wiley & sons,1989). Some elements of the laser section were taken from here.
    • "Introduction to Modern Optics", Grant R. Fowles (Dover, New York, 1975). The coherence part will be taken from here.


  • Books on strong-field physics and/or laser cooling (please note that I have not yet checked the strong-field books in detail):

    • ``Theoretical Femtosecond Physics: Atoms and Molecules in Strong Fields", Frank Grossmann (Springer, Berlin, 2008) (there is a copy available at the UCL library)
    • ``Atoms in Intense Laser Fields", C. J. Joachain, N. J. Kylstra and R. M. Potvliege (Cambridge University Press, 2012)
    • ``Advances in Atomic Physics: An Overview" C. Cohen-Tannoudji, D. Guery-Odelin (World Scientific, 2011). It has a lot on Trapping and Cooling, Sub-Doppler cooling, etc.

  • Review article (Sisyphus cooling)

  • Claude N. Cohen Tannoudji and William D. Phillips, New Mechanisms for Laser Cooling, Phys. Today 43(10), 33 (1990).

  • Strong-field review articles

  • Joachain, C.J., M. Dorr, and N. Kylstra, High-intensity laser-atom physics. Advances in Atomic Molecular, and Optical Physics, Vol. 42, 2000. 42: p. 225-286 (the source files can be obtained in the Universite Libre de Bruxelles's website ).
  • Krausz, F. and M. Ivanov, Attosecond physics. Reviews of Modern Physics, 2009. 81(1): p. 163-234.
  • Figueira de Morisson Faria, C. and Liu, X., Electron-electron correlation in strong laser fields, J. Mod. Opt. 58, 1076 (2011) (this is free for UCL users; remotely this must be assessed via a link from the UCL library)

Please note:

  • The above-stated list is by no means exhaustive and further books may be necessary
  • If necessary we will refer to scientific articles when dealing with specfic topics