Optically Polarized Atoms: Understanding Light-Atom Interactions - Hardcover

by Marcis Auzinsh (Author), Dmitry Budker (Author), Simon M. Rochester (Author)

Optically Polarized Atoms is addressed at upper-level undergraduate and graduate students involved in research in atomic, molecular, and optical Physics. It will also be useful to researchers practicing in this field. It gives an intuitive, yet sufficiently detailed and rigorous introduction to light-atom interactions with a particular emphasis on the symmetry aspects of the interaction, especially those associated with the angular momentum of atoms and light. The book will enable readers to carry out practical calculations on their own, and is richly illustrated with examples drawn from current research topics, such as resonant nonlinear magneto-optical effects. The book comes with a software package for a variety of atomic-physics calculations and further interactive examples that is freely downloadable from the book's web page, as well as additional materials (such as power-point presentations) available to instructors who adopt the text for their courses.

Author Biography

Marcis Auzinsh is the Rector of the University of Latvia, where he was previously Chairman of the Senate, Dean of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, and Head of Center of Excellence for Basic Research in Nanoscale Physics and Application. He has held visiting positions at universities around the world, and is a Member of Executive Commitee of the European Physical Society.