Dr. Simien - Laser Spectroscopy and Cooling: Tools to Probe Fundamental Physics

Speaker: Dr. Simien, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Abstract: Laser spectroscopy is a ubiquitous technique in modern Atomic Physics. The lineshapes obtained from atomic spectra are sensitive to important physics. For example, measuring the shape change or shift of atomic resonances is used in various settings ranging from testing the symmetry of the antiworld in antihydrogen experiments to investigating superconductivity in quantum gas systems. I will describe the application of laser spectroscopy to probe the relative nuclear charge radii of light atomic nuclei. In addition, I will describe additional experiments using precision spectroscopy in conjunction with laser cooling and trapping to investigate optical clock transitions, dipolar physics, and extremely correlated matter.