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，原子锂已经成为一个有前途的系统，探索原子和核结构在新的灵敏度水平。 锂的相对简单的原子结构提供了一个实验上可访问的系统，可以以高精度进行计算。 本项目利用光频梳对锂的原子结构进行了全面的研究。光频梳的发展使得有效地计算光的光学周期成为可能，从而实现了绝对的光频校准。除了光频测量功能外，频率梳还为直接激发原子跃迁提供了强大的光源。 这项工作的智力价值是提供显着改善的知识的原子锂的结构，并进一步扩大和发展的精密光谱技术，通过使用光学频率梳。 这项工作的更广泛的影响是本科研究计划的发展，将为学生提供进行尖端研究的机会。 实验在奥伯林学院进行，这是一所四年制的文科学院，具有教学和研究的多样性和一体化的历史，并且仅由本科生和首席研究员进行。因此，这项工作具有双重作用，既可以促进科学发现，又可以培训和教授本科生。 工作的性质补充了主要研究者的教学责任，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.