Spectroscopy of ultracold metastable hydrogen : in pursuit of a precision measurement

This thesis describes the first observations in trapped hydrogen of optical transitions starting from the metastable 2S state. It covers in detail the design and construction of two stabilized diode laser systems for performing spectroscopy of the 2S-3P and 2S-8S transitions. Spectroscopy of the one photon 2S-3P transition in hydrogen is demonstrated both by the depletion of the metastable 2S atom state and the absorption of the 2S-3P laser light. A model for absorption spectroscopy as a probe for metastable number is developed and absorption is shown to offer a major improvement over current detection methods. In the course of these experiments, techniques with diode lasers were developed that will be used later in the proposed precision measurements of 2S-nS transitions. The design, construction and characterization of the diode laser system for performing spectroscopy of the two photon 2S-8S transition is explained and recommended parameters for a proposed signal search are outlined.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Physics.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Vant, Kendra Margaret Denny

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Daniel Kleppner.

• Physics.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/34394

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/34394