Giovanni Moruzzi

F. Strumia

Provides a thorough discussion of the Hanle effect and level-crossing spectroscopy and their applications in many different fields of physics. Includes a translation of Wilhelm Hanle's 1924 paper that first presented the effect, and seven original papers reviewing applications in atomic, molecular,

The Hanle Effect and Level-crossing Spectroscopy

This unique atlas presents the recorded spectrum of CH3OH, the main isotopic species of methanol, in the range 28-1258 cm-1. The spectral plot is accompanied by a list of all currently assigned rotation-torsion-vibration lines in the absorption spectrum of methanol. The list of nearly 35,000 transitions spans all of the known microwave transitions, as well as the region of coincidence with CO2 laser emissions.

Microwave, Infrared, and Laser Transitions of Methanol Atlas of Assigned Lines from 0 to 1258 cm-1

This book introduces the reader with little or no previous computer-programming experience to the Python programming language of interest for a physicist or a natural-sciences student. The book starts with basic interactive Python in order to acquire an introductory familiarity with the language, than tackle Python scripts (programs) of increasing complexity, that the reader is invited to run on her/his computer. All program listings are discussed in detail, and the reader is invited to experiment on what happens if some code lines are modified. The reader is introduced to Matplotlib graphics for the generation of figures representing data and function plots and, for instance, field lines. Animated function plots are also considered. A chapter is dedicated to the numerical solution of algebraic and transcendental equations, the basic mathematical principles are discussed and the available Python tools for the solution are presented. A further chapter is dedicated to the numerical solution of ordinary differential equations. This is of vital importance for the physicist, since differential equations are at the base of both classical physics (Newton’s equations) and quantum mechanics (Schroedinger’s equation). The shooting method for the numerical solution of ordinary differential equations with boundary conditions at two boundaries is also presented. Python programs for the solution of two quantum-mechanics problems are discussed as examples. Two chapters are dedicated to Tkinter graphics, which gives the user more freedom than Matplotlib, and to Tkinter animation. Programs displaying the animation of physical problems involving the solution of ordinary differential equations (for which in most cases there is no algebraic solution) in real time are presented and discussed. Finally, 3D animation is presented with Vpython.

Essential Python for the Physicist

Franco Strumia

I am most pleased and, in a way, I feel honored to write the Foreword for the book The Hanle Effect and Level-Crossing Spectroscopy, which covers such a very wide range of applications not only in the initial areas of atomic and molecular physics, but also in solid state physics, solar physics, laser physics, and gravitational metrology. To link these fields together in a coherent way has been the merit of the editors of the book, who attracted most distinguished authors for writing the chapters. In retrospect to Hanle's discovery of quantum mechanical coherence between two quantum states about 65 years ago, this book demonstrates the enormous impact and central importance the effect has had, and most vividly still has, on modern physics. On the other hand, the concept of quantum mechanical coherence, which is an outgrowth of the linear super position principle of quantum states, has been evident through a consider able number of experimental methods beyond the original Hanle effect; some of these methods were only recently discovered or applied and they have indeed revolutionized research fields such as atomic collision physics.

Giovanni Moruzzi

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