Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
Far wider than the study of atoms or simple molecules, AMO Physics has been loosely described as the study of the ultra-cold, the ultra-fast, and the ultra-precise. A unifying theme is that experiments usually involve relatively small numbers of atoms, ions, or simple molecules, which interact, in carefully controlled ways, with coherent electromagnetic radiation - usually from lasers, or radio-frequency sources. However, the atoms only weakly interact with each other and their environment.
These conditions explain the importance of AMO in precision measurement, the determination of fundamental constants, and tests of physical laws. At FSU, current AMO research is centered on a Precision Penning Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer and on Laser-Spectroscopy of Highly-Charged Ions.
Faculty: Edmund Myers