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Zeeman Slower
A Zeeman slower is a scientific apparatus that is commonly used in atomic physics to slow and cool a beam of hot atoms to speeds of several meters per second and temperatures below a kelvin. The Gas-phase atoms used in atomic physics are often generated in an oven by heating a solid or liquid atomic sample to temperatures where the vapor pressure is high enough that there are a substantial number of atoms in the gas phase. These atoms effuse out of a hole in the oven with average speeds on the order of hundreds of m/s and large velocity distributions (due to their high temperature). The Zeeman slower is attached close to where the hot atoms exit the oven and is used to slow them to less than 10 m/s (slowing) with a very small velocity spread (cooling). A Zeeman slower consists of a cylinder, through which an atomic beam travels, a pump laser that counterpropagates with respect to the beam's direction , and a magnetic field (commonly produced by a solenoid-like coil) t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Excited State
In quantum mechanics, an excited state of a system (such as an atom, molecule or nucleus) is any quantum state of the system that has a higher energy than the ground state (that is, more energy than the absolute minimum). Excitation refers to an increase in energy level above a chosen starting point, usually the ground state, but sometimes an already excited state. The temperature of a group of particles is indicative of the level of excitation (with the notable exception of systems that exhibit negative temperature). The lifetime of a system in an excited state is usually short: spontaneous or induced emission of a quantum of energy (such as a photon or a phonon) usually occurs shortly after the system is promoted to the excited state, returning the system to a state with lower energy (a less excited state or the ground state). This return to a lower energy level is often loosely described as decay and is the inverse of excitation. Long-lived excited states are often called ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brownian Motion
Brownian motion, or pedesis (from grc, πήδησις "leaping"), is the random motion of particles suspended in a medium (a liquid or a gas). This pattern of motion typically consists of random fluctuations in a particle's position inside a fluid sub-domain, followed by a relocation to another sub-domain. Each relocation is followed by more fluctuations within the new closed volume. This pattern describes a fluid at thermal equilibrium, defined by a given temperature. Within such a fluid, there exists no preferential direction of flow (as in transport phenomena). More specifically, the fluid's overall linear and angular momenta remain null over time. The kinetic energies of the molecular Brownian motions, together with those of molecular rotations and vibrations, sum up to the caloric component of a fluid's internal energy (the equipartition theorem). This motion is named after the botanist Robert Brown, who first described the phenomenon in 1827, while looking throu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magneto-optical Trap
A magneto-optical trap (MOT) is an apparatus which uses laser cooling and a spatially-varying magnetic field to create a trap which can produce samples of cold, trapped, neutral atoms. Temperatures achieved in a MOT can be as low as several microkelvin, depending on the atomic species, which is two or three times below the photon recoil limit. However, for atoms with an unresolved hyperfine structure, such as ^7\mathrm, the temperature achieved in a MOT will be higher than the Doppler cooling limit. A MOT is formed from the intersection of a weak quadrupolar spatially-varying magnetic field and six circularly-polarized red-detuned optical molasses beams. As atoms travel away from the field zero at the center of the trap (halfway between the coils), the spatially-varying Zeeman shift brings an atomic transition into resonance which gives rise to a scattering force that pushes the atoms back towards the center of the trap. This is why a MOT traps atoms, and because this force aris ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stimulated Emission
Stimulated emission is the process by which an incoming photon of a specific frequency can interact with an excited atomic electron (or other excited molecular state), causing it to drop to a lower energy level. The liberated energy transfers to the electromagnetic field, creating a new photon with a frequency, polarization, and direction of travel that are all identical to the photons of the incident wave. This is in contrast to spontaneous emission, which occurs at a characteristic rate for each of the atoms/oscillators in the upper energy state regardless of the external electromagnetic field. According to the American Physical Society, the first person to correctly predict the phenomenon of stimulated emission was Albert Einstein in a series of papers starting in 1916, culminating in what is now called the Einstein B Coefficient. Einstein's work became the theoretical foundation of the MASER and LASER. The process is identical in form to atomic absorption in which the energ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laser Detuning
In optical physics, laser detuning is the tuning of a laser to a frequency that is slightly off from a quantum system's resonant frequency. When used as a noun, the laser detuning is the difference between the resonance frequency of the system and the laser's optical frequency (or wavelength). Lasers tuned to a frequency below the resonant frequency are called ''red-detuned'', and lasers tuned above resonance are called ''blue-detuned''. Illustration Consider a system with a resonance frequency \omega_0 in the optical frequency range of the electromagnetic spectrum, i.e. with frequency of a few THz to a few PHz, or equivalently with a wavelength in the range of 10 nm to 100 μm. If this system is excited by a laser with a frequency \omega_L close to this value, the laser detuning is then defined as:\Delta \omega\ \overset \ \omega_L - \omega_0 The most common examples of such resonant systems in the optical frequency range are optical cavities (free-space, fiber or microcavities) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stimulated Emission
Stimulated emission is the process by which an incoming photon of a specific frequency can interact with an excited atomic electron (or other excited molecular state), causing it to drop to a lower energy level. The liberated energy transfers to the electromagnetic field, creating a new photon with a frequency, polarization, and direction of travel that are all identical to the photons of the incident wave. This is in contrast to spontaneous emission, which occurs at a characteristic rate for each of the atoms/oscillators in the upper energy state regardless of the external electromagnetic field. According to the American Physical Society, the first person to correctly predict the phenomenon of stimulated emission was Albert Einstein in a series of papers starting in 1916, culminating in what is now called the Einstein B Coefficient. Einstein's work became the theoretical foundation of the MASER and LASER. The process is identical in form to atomic absorption in which the energ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wavenumber
In the physical sciences, the wavenumber (also wave number or repetency) is the ''spatial frequency'' of a wave, measured in cycles per unit distance (ordinary wavenumber) or radians per unit distance (angular wavenumber). It is analogous to temporal frequency, which is defined as the number of wave cycles per unit time (''ordinary frequency'') or radians per unit time (''angular frequency''). In multidimensional systems, the wavenumber is the magnitude of the ''wave vector''. The space of wave vectors is called ''reciprocal space''. Wave numbers and wave vectors play an essential role in optics and the physics of wave scattering, such as X-ray diffraction, neutron diffraction, electron diffraction, and elementary particle physics. For quantum mechanical waves, the wavenumber multiplied by the reduced Planck's constant is the ''canonical momentum''. Wavenumber can be used to specify quantities other than spatial frequency. For example, in optical spectroscopy, it is often used ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spectral Linewidth
A spectral line is a dark or bright line in an otherwise uniform and continuous spectrum, resulting from emission or absorption of light in a narrow frequency range, compared with the nearby frequencies. Spectral lines are often used to identify atoms and molecules. These "fingerprints" can be compared to the previously collected ones of atoms and molecules, and are thus used to identify the atomic and molecular components of stars and planets, which would otherwise be impossible. Types of line spectra Spectral lines are the result of interaction between a quantum system (usually atoms, but sometimes molecules or atomic nuclei) and a single photon. When a photon has about the right amount of energy (which is connected to its frequency) to allow a change in the energy state of the system (in the case of an atom this is usually an electron changing orbitals), the photon is absorbed. Then the energy will be spontaneously re-emitted, either as one photon at the same frequenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zeeman Effect
The Zeeman effect (; ) is the effect of splitting of a spectral line into several components in the presence of a static magnetic field. It is named after the Dutch physicist Pieter Zeeman, who discovered it in 1896 and received a Nobel prize for this discovery. It is analogous to the Stark effect, the splitting of a spectral line into several components in the presence of an electric field. Also similar to the Stark effect, transitions between different components have, in general, different intensities, with some being entirely forbidden (in the dipole approximation), as governed by the selection rules. Since the distance between the Zeeman sub-levels is a function of magnetic field strength, this effect can be used to measure magnetic field strength, e.g. that of the Sun and other stars or in laboratory plasmas. The Zeeman effect is very important in applications such as nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, electron spin resonance spectroscopy, magnetic resonance imagin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Resonance
Resonance describes the phenomenon of increased amplitude that occurs when the frequency of an applied periodic force (or a Fourier component of it) is equal or close to a natural frequency of the system on which it acts. When an oscillating force is applied at a resonant frequency of a dynamic system, the system will oscillate at a higher amplitude than when the same force is applied at other, non-resonant frequencies. Frequencies at which the response amplitude is a relative maximum are also known as resonant frequencies or resonance frequencies of the system. Small periodic forces that are near a resonant frequency of the system have the ability to produce large amplitude oscillations in the system due to the storage of vibrational energy. Resonance phenomena occur with all types of vibrations or waves: there is mechanical resonance, orbital resonance, acoustic resonance, electromagnetic resonance, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), electron spin resonance (ESR) and reso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Recoil
Recoil (often called knockback, kickback or simply kick) is the rearward thrust generated when a gun is being discharged. In technical terms, the recoil is a result of conservation of momentum, as according to Newton's third law the force required to accelerate something will evoke an equal but opposite reactional force, which means the forward momentum gained by the projectile and exhaust gases (ejectae) will be mathematically balanced out by an equal and opposite momentum exerted back upon the gun. In hand-held small arms, the recoil momentum will be eventually transferred to the ground, but will do so through the body of the shooter hence resulting in a noticeable impulse commonly referred to as a "kick". In heavier mounted guns, such as heavy machine guns or artillery pieces, recoil momentum is transferred to the Earth's surface through the platform on which the weapon is mounted. In order to bring the rearward moving gun to a halt, the momentum acquired by the gun is di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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