The UConn Physics Department has a vibrant community of graduate students working in cutting-edge research fields including:
Astrophysics
Atomic, Molecular and Optical (AMO) Physics
Condensed Matter and Materials Physics
Geophysics and planetary science
Nuclear and Particle Physics
Welcome to the Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics Group, where research covers many areas of current focus in the AMO community. They can be broadly grouped into:
Atomic and Molecular Spectroscopy (N. Berrah, R. Cote, G. Gibson, P. Gould, V. Kharchenko, A.-T. Le, D. McCarron, C. Trallero):
Theory: We compute photoassociation spectra, analyze experimental spectra and compare them to adjust interaction potentials accurately reproducing measured features. We compute lifetime of molecular states, and how spectral features are affected by the environment (e.g., line shift and broadening, Stark shift of Rydberg states, E2 excitation to high Rydberg levels, etc.).
Experiment:
We carry out ultrafast experiments with femtosecond and attosecond pulses using either table top lasers at UConn (in three different labs , Berrah, Gibson, Trallero) and using XUV, VUV and X-ray Free Electron Lasers (FELs) in the US, Japan and Europe. We investigate and measure, with great details, molecular dynamics, occurring in ultrafast timescale. Our goal is to make a Molecular Movie by measuring, as a function of time, all of the physical and chemical processes that are at play, subsequent to photo-induced excitation and ionization of various systems. The different lasers we use allow us to probe valence and inner-shell electrons in matter (atoms, molecules, nanosystems, liquids, solids). Attosecond lasers allow us to probe and aim to understand electronic dynamics while femtosecond laser allow us to probe and aim to understand nuclear dynamics in the systems we study. Our research has crucial impact to other fields of science such as nanophysics, chemistry and biology.
We produces ultracold Rydberg atomic samples and ultracold molecule gases and probe their properties via their spectra. For example, we detected the van de Waals blockade mechanism in ultracold Rydberg gases by studying strong saturation of excitation of specific atomic lines. The strong Rydberg-Rydberg interaction also lead to molecular resonances between Rydberg states that were detected and analyzed, these could allow for the formation of macrodimers, i.e. micron size molecules made of two Rydberg atoms. We also investigate in detail the spectra of Rb2 and KRb in both ground and excited electronic states, to construct precise molecular potentials from which we can find the best path to produce ultracold molecules in their ground ro-vibrational state.
