Official description

This is a graduate course on atomic and molecular physics. The goal is to develop an understanding of the structure of atoms and molecules, to shed light on how and why they are used in modern AMO research.

The course is aimed at experimental AMO graduate students, but all are welcome. The course will assume you have a strong background in graduate-level electromagnetism and that you are fluent in topics from PHY 2203 (Quantum Optics I).

Course content:

• Atoms & molecules as strongly interacting many-body systems.
• Angular momentum and parity. Selection rules.
• Multipole moments. Energy level shifts due to electric and magnetic fields.
• Spontaneous emission. Branching ratios. Cycling transitions and repumps. Laser cooling.
• One-electron atoms. Relativistic quantum mechanics. Hydrogenic atoms, Rydberg atoms, alkalis.
• Many electron atoms. Helium, alkaline earths. The rest of the periodic table. Heuristics for many electron atoms (Aufbau principle, Hund’s rules). LS- & jj-coupling.
• Overview of computational methods for many electron atoms.
• Hartree-Fock. Configuration Interaction.
• Diatomic molecules: scattering states. Atomic collisions. Collisional resonances. Numerical calculation of potential energy curves.
• Polyatomic molecules and other topics (if time permits).