A precision millimeter-wave measurement of the Rydberg frequency
Name
50421471-MIT.pdf
Description
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Checksum (MD5)
e1ad77908968b191d036a723c182e957
Author(s)
De Vries, Joel Christopher, 1971-
Advisor(s)
Daniel Kleppner.
Date Issued
2002
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
The Rydberg frequency, cR[infinity], sets the frequency scale for the spectrum of hydrogen atoms. From a frequency measurement of one transition in hydrogen, cR[infinity] can be extracted and the frequency of any other transition can be predicted, given that the reduced-mass, relativistic, QED, and proton structure corrections can be computed to the desired accuracy. Recent advances in optical frequency techniques applied to transitions involving low-lying states of hydrogen have decreased the uncertainty in cR[infinity], to 7.6 x 10⁻¹². This thesis presents our measurement of cR[infinity] using millimeter-wave transitions between high-lying "circular Rydberg" states of atomic hydrogen with a principle quantum number, n, between 27 and 30. This measurement provides an independent check, in a different regime, of the optical measurements. Our measurement, cR[infinity] = 3 289 841 960 306(69) kHz with an uncertainty of 2.1 x 10⁻¹¹, is consistent with the CODATA 98 recommended value.
Description
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics, February 2002.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 161-163).
Subjects
Physics.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
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