Frontiers in Spectroscopy

Chemical Physics 880 (04286-7) and 880A (04287-2)

Winter 2005

Course Description: This course will provide students with an overview of topics on the frontier of spectroscopic research. It will exploit internationally renowned lecturers, as well as outstanding OSU faculty, to cover topics ranging from very fundamental to quite applied. General areas to be covered will include fundamental characteristics of molecular quantum structure, electromagnetics, new experimental techniques, remote sensing, ultra-high sensitivity analytical techniques, astrophysical applications, etc. It is planned that the course will be offered multiple times, with topics and speakers varying with each offering. The lecturers for the upcoming Winter quarter are listed below.

Each topic will be covered by lectures on Wednesday and Friday mornings, 9:00-10:18AM, in MP2015, with a discussion period 9:00-10:18AM on Thursdays in MP2015.

Prerequisites: Chemistry 866 or Physics 780.04 or permission of the instructor

Required Text: None; suggested articles for reading will be supplied prior to the lecture on a given topic.

Syllabus:

List of speakers and dates scheduled:

January 12-14 Christopher Monroe - University of Michigan
Abstract of Talks: "Quantum Computing with Individual Atoms and Photons"
A quantum computer can store and process quantum superpositions of numbers, leading to an exponential speedup over conventional computers for certain algorithms. However, the prospects for constructing a quantum computer are highly speculative, owing to the extremely fragile nature of quantum superpositions. A quantum computer is nothing more than a smaller (and more humane) version of Schroedinger's Cat, and if one is ever built, it will strongly impact both computer science and quantum mechanical foundations. Leading quantum computer hardware involves exotic systems such as individual trapped atoms and flying photons, where the isolation from the environment is unparalleled. Experiments are reported in this context, and the outlook for scaling to larger systems will be discuss
Readings: Quantum Information Processing with Atoms and Photons, Observation of Entanglement Between a Single Trapped Atom and a Single Photon, The Ion Trap Quantum Information Processor Link to Monroe's lectures: Wednesday, January 12, Friday, January 14

February 2-4 Lou DiMauro - Ohio State University
Readings: DiMauro-Kulander, Elastic rescattering, Observation of a Transition in the Dynamics of Strong-Field Double Ionization, Above Threshold Ionization Beyond the High Harmonic Cutoff
Link to DiMauro's lectures: Wednesday, February 2, Thursday, February 3, Friday, February 4

February 9-11 Frederic Merkt - ETH Zurich
Link to Topic 1 - Reference 1
Link to Topic 2 - Reference 1, Reference 2, Reference 3
Link to Topic 3 - Reference 1, Reference 2, Reference 3

February 16-18 Richard Miles - Princeton University
"Gas Diagnostics by Spectroscopic Methods" - Abstract Readings: 1, 2, 3, and 4
Lecture 1, Lecture 2

March 9-11 Wolfgang Jaeger - University of Alberta, Canada
Abstracts and Readings links to be provided Monday February 28 Link to Abstracts for Lectures Readings: for Wednesday's talk, Thursday Research talk, ref 1, Thursday Research talk ref 2 and Friday's talk,

link to presentations

Grading: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory options: Class attendance and participation

Letter grade option: Class attendance and participation plus term paper

(Grades will be assigned solely by OSU faculty.)  

04286-7 (3 hours) Call number for ChemPhys 880 (S/U option)

04287-2 (3 hours) Call number for ChemPhys 880A (letter grade option - prerequisite=a previous spectroscopy course at OSU in Chemistry or Physics or prior permission of the instructor)