Diode Laser Spectroscopy

该项目将加强中心物理系学生在激光、原子光谱学和现代光学等相关领域的教育。学生和教员正在制造一台激光分光仪，并用它来研究铷和铯原子结构的一些细节。购买了许多系统组件（镜子、探测器、二极管激光器、数字示波器系统）。然而，出于教学目的，本科生构建和测试激光控制器和检测器电路。我们在现代物理、光学和量子力学的高年级课程中使用该系统。特殊的学生项目和研究在两个领域进行：激光光谱的计算机增强，以及外磁场对原子光谱的影响（塞曼效应）。我们的本科生获得制造和使用相当复杂的光学，激光和电子系统的经验。学生观察到原子光谱中几个重要的物理现象：气体原子热运动引起的谱线变宽（多普勒效应）、塞曼分裂、同位素效应（85Rb、87Rb）和核超精细效应（电子与核自旋的相互作用，或磁双极子效应，以及由有限大小的核电荷引起的效应，或核四极子效应）。最后，希望这个项目能更好地为物理系学生的研究生学习做准备和激励。

This project will enhance the education of Centre's physics majors in the related areas of lasers, atomic spectroscopy and modern optics. Students and faculty are fabricating a laser spectrometer and using it to study some details of the atomic structure of rubidium and possibly cesium. Many of the system components (mirrors, detectors, diode lasers, a digital oscilloscope system) were purchased. For pedagogical purposes, however, undergraduates construct and test the laser controller and detector circuits. We are using the system in upper- divisional courses in modern physics, optics, and quantum mechanics. Special student projects and research are conducted in two areas: computer enhancement of laser spectra, and the effect of an external magnetic field on atomic spectra (Zeeman Effect).Our undergraduates gain experience in fabricating and using rather sophisticated optical, laser and electronic systems. Students observe several important physical phenomena in atomic spectra: line broadening due to thermal motion of gaseous atoms (Doppler effect), Zeeman splitting, isotopic effects (85Rb, 87Rb), and nuclear hyperfine effects (interaction of electrons with nuclear spin, or magnetic dipole effect, and effects caused by the finite size of the nuclear charge, or nuclear quadrupole effect). Finally, it is expected that this project will better prepare and motivate our physics students for graduate study.