Diode Laser Spectroscopy

该项目将加强中心物理专业学生在激光、原子光谱学和现代光学相关领域的教育。学生和教职员工正在制造一台激光光谱仪，并用它来研究Rb的原子结构的一些细节，可能还有铯。购买了许多系统部件(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，本科生需要构建和测试激光控制器和探测器电路。我们正在现代物理、光学和量子力学的高级课程中使用该系统。学生专题和研究主要集中在两个领域：激光光谱的计算机增强和外加磁场对原子光谱的影响(塞曼效应)。我们的本科生在制造和使用相当复杂的光学、激光和电子系统方面获得了经验。学生在原子光谱中观察到几个重要的物理现象：气体原子热运动引起的谱线加宽(多普勒效应)、塞曼分裂、同位素效应(85Rb，87Rb)和核超精细效应(电子与核自旋或磁偶极效应的相互作用，以及由有限大小的核电荷引起的效应，或核四极效应)。最后，预计这个项目将更好地为我们的物理学生的研究生学习做好准备和激励。

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.