Read more
Atomic physics and its underlying quantum theory are the point of departure for many modern areas of physics, astrophysics, chemistry, biology, and even electrical engineering. This textbook provides a careful and eminently readable introduction to the results and methods of empirical atomic physics. The student will acquire the tools of quantum physics and at the same time learn about the interplay between experiment and theory. A chapter on the quantum theory of the chemical bond provides the reader with an introduction to molecular physics. Plenty of problems are given to elucidate the material. The authors also discuss laser physics and nonlinear spectroscopy, incorporating latest experimental results and showing their relevance to basic research. Extra items in the second edition include solutions to the exercises, derivations of the relativistic Klein-Gordon and Dirac equations, a detailed theoretical derivation of the Lamb shift, a discussion of new developments in the spectroscopy of inner shells, and new applications of NMR spectroscopy, for instance tomography.
List of contents
1. Introduction.- 2. The Mass and Size of the Atom.- 3. Isotopes.- 4. The Nucleus of the Atom.- 5. The Photon.- 6. The Electron.- 7. Some Basic Properties of Matter Waves.- 8. Bohr's Model of the Hydrogen Atom.- 9. The Mathematical Framework of Quantum Theory.- 10. Quantum Mechanics of the Hydrogen Atom.- 11. Lifting of the Orbital Degeneracy in the Spectra of Alkali Atoms.- 12. Orbital and Spin Magnetism. Fine Structure.- 13. Atoms in a Magnetic Field: Experiments and Their Semiclassical Description.- 14. Atoms in a Magnetic Field: Quantum Mechanical Treatment.- 15. Atoms in an Electric Field.- 16. General Laws of Optical Transitions.- 17. Many-Electron Atoms.- 18. X-Ray Spectra, Internal Shells.- 19. Structure of the Periodic System. Ground States of the Elements.- 20. Nuclear Spin, Hyperfine Structure.- 21. The Laser.- 22. Modern Methods of Optical Spectroscopy.- 23. Fundamentals of the Quantum Theory of Chemical Bonding.- A. The Dirac Delta Function and the Normalisation of the Wavefunction of a Free Particle in Unbounded Space.- B. Some Properties of the Hamiltonian Operator, Its Eigenfunctions and Its Eigenvalues.- Bibliography of Supplementary and Specialised Literature.- Fundamental Constants of Atomic Physics (Inside Front Cover).- Energy Conversion Table (Inside Back Cover).
About the author
Hermann Haken is Professor of the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of Stuttgart. He is known as the founder of synergetics. His research has been in nonlinear optics (in particular laser physics), solid state physics, statistical physics, and group theory. After the implementation of the first laser in 1960, Professor Haken developed his institute to an international center for laser theory. The interpretation of the laser principles as self organization of non equilibrium systems paved the way to the development of synergetics, of which Haken is recognized as the founder. Hermann Haken has been visiting professor or guest scientist in England, France, Japan, USA, Russia, and China. He is the author of some 23 textbooks and monographs that cover an impressive number of topics from laser physics to synergetics, and editor of a book series in synergetics. For his pathbreaking work and his influence on academic research, he has been awarded many-times. Among others, he is member of the Order "Pour le merite" and received the Max Planck Medal in 1990.
