| Semester: | 2025-2 |
| Responsable: | Profs. Sebastian Slama, sebastian.slama@uni-tuebingen.de |
| | & Philippe W. Courteille, philippe.courteille@ifsc.usp.br |
| Start and end of classes: | 15.10.2025 to 25.2.2026 |
| Queries: | via e-mail |
| Time and location of classes: | Tuesdays from 10h15 to 14h00 in room D4A19 |
| Holidays: | 19.12.2025-7.1.2026 (X-mas) |
| Language: | Portuguese, French, German or English (to be agreed with the students) |
| Workload: |
| Theory | 4 per week |
| Practice | 3 per weak |
| Studies | 8 per weak |
| Duration | 14 weaks |
|
| |
| Tentative list of topics: |
I. Atomic physics repetition |
| AL 1.1 + 3.1 | 1. Atomic level structure (quantum defect, fine and hyperfine structure, selection rules),
alkalis (Rb) and earth alkalis (Sr), Grotrian diagrams, magnetic fields: Zeeman- & Paschen-Back regime |
| AL 1.2.1-2.3.2 | 2. Two-level atom-light interaction, perturbation theory, Rabi oscillations,
spontaneous emission and quantum jumps, density matrix, optical Bloch equations |
| AL 2.4.1-3 + QM 24.3.1-3 | 3. Three-level systems, EIT, Raman transitions, applications in quantum computing:
Qbits and quantum gates with cold atoms |
|
| II. Experimental techniques |
| OS 4 + 5 | 4. Spectroscopy (absorption, fluorescence, saturation), broadening mechanisms,
sensitivity limits, interferometry (frequency beating, heterodyning) |
| AL 4.2 | 5. Lasers in general, diode laser types (FP, ECDL, DFB, FBR, ...)
and their properties (linewidth, tuneability), Laser beams: Gaussian optics, AOMs, EOMs, optical fibers |
| AL 5.1 | 6. Modes and properties of an optical cavity, coupling light into a cavity |
| AL 5.2 | 7. Atoms in optical cavities:
coupling constant, cooperativity, single-photon saturation, sub-recoil resolution |
| OS 4.3.1-4.4.4 + 6.1-3 | 8. Laser stabilization techniques: PID control, FM, phase modulation, PDH, frequency beating, PLL |
|
| III. Laser cooling and trapping |
| AL 3.2-3 | 9. Light forces, Doppler cooling, optical molasses |
| QM 26.2-3 | 10. MOT, Sisyphus-cooling, Raman-sideband cooling |
| QM 20.1.3 + 26.3.2 | 11. Dipole potential (AC Stark effect), magic wavelength, adiabatic potentials |
|
| IV. Quantum simulation and sensing with optical tweezers and cavities |
| QM 26.4 | 12. Dipole traps, parity projection in optical tweezers, optical lattices, magnetic traps,
evaporative cooling |
| QM 24.3.1-3 | 13. Application for quantum simulation: Quantum processors based on neutral atoms in tweezer arrays |
| QM 24 | 14. Collective effects in optical cavities (normal mode splitting, Dicke model, CARL) |
| 15. Lab visit |
|
| Not covered but available upon request |
| AL 2.5-6 | A1. Quantization of light (Jaynes-Cummings model) |
| QM 27 | A2. Quantum statistics and ultracold collisions (BEC, Fermi gases) |
| AL 5 | A3. Collective models (Dicke, Tavis-Cummings, ...) |
| The labels in parenthesis correspond to chapters in the scripts downloadable below:
AL: Atom-Light Interaction,
QM: Quantum Mechanics,
OS: Optical Spectroscopy
Green topics are taught by Sebastian Slama |
|
| Exercises: |
Cumulative list of exercises |
|
| Recomended literature: |
Philippe W. Courteille, Lecture on Atom-Light Interaction and Basic Applications |
| Philippe W. Courteille, A practical course in Optical Spectroscopy |
| Philippe W. Courteille, Quantum Mechanics for Atomic & Molecular Physics, Quantum & Atom Optics |
| D.J. Griffiths, Introduction to Quantum mechanics, 3a edição, Pearson |
| P.W. Atkins and R.S. Friedman, Molecular Quantum Mechanics (3rd ed.) Oxford University, (1997, 2001) |
| I.N. Levine, Quantum Chemistry, Allyn and Bacon (3rd ed.) Boston (1983) |
| C. Cohen-Tannoudji, B. Diu, F. Laloe, Quantum mechanics (vol. 1) Wiley Interscience |
| H.A. Bethe, R. Jackiw, Intermediate Quantum Mechnanics, (2nd ed.) W.A. Benjamin, Inc) |
| J.I. Steinfeld, Molecules and Radiation, The MIT Press |
| A. Corney, Atomic and Laser Spectroscopy, Clarendon Press, Oxford |
| B.H. Bransden, C.J. Joachain, Physics of Atoms and Molecules, John Wiley & Sons |