RUI: Precision Spectroscopy of High-Lying States of Atomic Lithium

随着原子结构计算和实验技术的最新进展，锂原子已经成为以新的灵敏度水平探索原子和核结构的一种很有前途的系统。锂的相对简单的原子结构提供了一个可以通过实验获得的系统，可以高精度地进行计算。该项目利用光学频率梳对锂的原子结构进行了全面的研究。光学频率梳的发展使得能够有效地计算光的光学周期，从而导致绝对光学频率校准。除了光学频率测量能力外，频率梳还为原子跃迁的直接激发提供了一个强大的来源。这项工作的智力价值在于极大地提高了对锂原子结构的认识，并进一步扩展和发展了利用光学频率梳的精密光谱技术。这项工作的更广泛影响是开发了一个本科生研究计划，将为学生提供进行尖端研究的机会。这些实验是在奥伯林学院进行的，这是一所四年制的文科学院，有着多样化和教学与研究一体化的历史，只由本科生和首席研究员进行。因此，这项工作具有促进科学发现和培养和教授本科生的双重作用。这项工作的性质补充了主要调查员的教学责任，并允许将研究纳入课堂和教学实验室。

With the recent advances in atomic structure calculations and experimental techniques, atomic lithium has emerged as a promising system for exploring atomic and nuclear structure at new levels of sensitivity. The relatively simple atomic structure of lithium provides an experimentally accessible system that can be calculated at a high level of accuracy. This project provides a comprehensive investigation of the atomic structure of lithium utilizing an optical frequency comb. The development of optical frequency combs has made it possible to effectively count the optical cycles of light, resulting in absolute optical-frequency calibration. In addition to its optical-frequency measurement capabilities, frequency combs provide a powerful source for direct excitation of atomic transitions. The intellectual merit of this work is to provide significant improvement in the knowledge of the structure of atomic lithium and to further expand and develop techniques of precision spectroscopy by use of optical frequency combs. The broader impact of this work is the development of an undergraduate research program that will provide students with the opportunity to perform cutting-edge research. The experiments are carried out at Oberlin College, a four-year liberal arts college that has a history of diversity and integration of teaching and research, and are performed solely by undergraduate students and the principal investigator. As a result, the work serves a dual role of advancing scientific discovery while training and teaching undergraduate students. The nature of the work complements the teaching responsibilities of the principle investigator and allows the integration of research into the classroom and teaching laboratories.