Atomic Physics: An Exploration Through Problems and Solutions , Dmitry Budker and Derek F. Kimball David P. DeMille Oxford U. Press, New York, 2004. $119.50, $49.50 paper (441 pp.). ISBN 0-19-850949-9, ISBN 0-19-850950-2 paper
In the past 20 years, atomic physics has gone through a renaissance and has reemerged as a leading field of study, principally because of the continued development of lasers, trapping and cooling techniques, and precision experimental methods. In Atomic Physics: An Exploration Through Problems and Solutions, Dmitry Budker, Derek Kimball, and David DeMille present a series of problems that will serve as a sound introduction to graduate students entering the various subfields of modern atomic physics. The book will also serve as a reference for professional scientists who need quick summaries of old concepts and new ideas, and for readers who need concise summaries of theoretical techniques and results required for the design or interpretation of experiments.
In essence, the book provides all the background required to understand the theory and specific operation of most experiments in modern atomic physics. The authors, leading researchers in experimental and theoretical atomic physics, emphasize concise and crisp, yet complete, understandings of physical phenomena. Never valuing form over substance, the authors have been able to provide a nearly complete overview of modern atomic physics in a relatively short book, with ample references. I only know of one other text that covers the field with a similar scope: Atomic and Laser Spectroscopy (Oxford U. Press, 1977) by Alan Corney. Given the considerable progress of the field over the past 28 years, Atomic Physics is timely and will be of value to the present and next generations of graduate students in atomic physics.
As the authors state, the best way to learn something new is to ask concrete questions and try to work out the answers. The format of the book follows that philosophy by presenting the subject as a series of short tutorial questions followed by hints and solutions. The technique is very effective. For example, in the chapter on experimental methods, the basic ideas behind the revolutionary development of frequency combs are presented as problems, and solved, in about five pages. After mastering the tutorial, a graduate student would have a sound, basic understanding of the relevant issues and would therefore be prepared to read the professional papers on frequency combs.
Because the book’s focus is on atomic physics, the discussion of purely optical phenomena is primarily in relation to the interaction of light with atoms, the operation of lasers, or the limitations to experiments. The authors occasionally stray from mainstream topics and address a number of entertaining questions. For example, one might expect a compass needle to precess in a magnetic field because the needle, after all, comprises paramagnetic atoms that precess. I have thought about this problem before and have never come to a satisfactory resolution. The solution in the book suggests that a magnetized needle 0.01 cm in length will precess if the ambient magnetic field is sufficiently small.
The eight appendices do not follow the tutorial format, but they provide a reference section for conversion factors and units, tables of atomic properties, notation for polarization states of light, and general theoretical techniques. The final appendix provides a succinct discussion of the Feynman-diagram technique as it applies to atomic physics. The technique’s utility is proven convincingly by the solution of a difficult problem: the Kerr effect in liquid helium. The solution to the problem is so sufficiently clear that it can be used as a model for applying the technique to other situations.
Atomic Physics is an extremely well-written book. The tutorials are scholarly and engaging and cover the complete spectrum of topics relevant to modern atomic physics. My impression is that the authors have written down all of the insightful and subtle questions that they themselves have had to answer or propose while teaching and supervising graduate students or when nobody else could or would answer the questions for them.
Atomic Physics bridges the gaps between advanced undergraduate and graduate course work, the professional literature, and the workings of the atomic physics laboratory. It does so through its emphasis on concise explanations and reliance on limiting cases, dimensional considerations, and approximation methods as opposed to formal mathematics, which more often than not is irrelevant to fundamental understanding. With the fundamentals that the book instills, a beginning graduate student will have an easy transition to the detailed, professional atomic physics literature.
