1. Introduction
2. Quantum mechanical background: light-matter interaction
3. Optical instrumentation and detection
4. Vapor generation and vacuum.
5. Tunable diode laser characteristics
6. Absorption spectroscopy
7. Lithium and Rubidium spectroscopy
8. Lithium isotope separation
9. Laser cooling
10. Summary

The subject of the book is the description of the techniques, and the experimental and theoretical tools needed to construct a laser isotope separation and a laser cooling experiment. The book will describe the minimum quantum mechanical background and fundamentals of optics needed to understand the experiments. The book also shows examples of these laser isotope separation, laser cooling and laser scattering experiments.

This book provides the basics of how to construct a laser isotope separation experiment, as well as a laser cooling magneto optical trap. Beginning with a review the basic optics and quantum mechanics, the atom-field equations and rate equations that include the transition probabilities for lithium and rubidium are presented. Optical cavities, the interferometer, methods to adjust and stabilize the laser frequency, and the methods to obtain and use circularly polarized light will be described. The book includes a full description of different diode laser cavities and the methods to assemble and tune lasers.

The target audience for this book includes upper level undergraduate and graduate level students enrolled on courses such as modern techniques in experimental physics lab.

Key Features:

• Provides experimental details for laser cooling and trapping

• Includes laser isotope separation

• Describes the basic optics fundamentals needed to understand the experiments

• Includes chapter problems, exercises, and examples

• Explains the components and equipment needed

Professor Ignacio Enrique Olivares Bahamondes is a member of the Physics Department at Universidad de Santiago de Chile. He is a recognized authority in the field and has published pioneering papers on the use of diode lasers in Lithium isotope separation.

Dr Patrick Carrazana gained his Masters and Doctorate in Theoretical Quantum Optics in the United States. For approximately twenty years Dr. Carrazana has worked in General Relativity with a special interest in problems associated with the early universe.