William E Cooke

Experimental Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics

BS College of William & Mary 1972; PhD Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1976

One of the fundamental problems in atomic physics is the understanding of the quantum three-body system such as that formed by an ion and two electrons. The ground state of these systems is typically well understood, but the additional phase space introduced when one or both of the electrons are excited makes this problem unsolvable much like the classical case. Our laboratory has introduced several multiphoton laser techniques to illuminate the electron-electron interaction in a number of limiting cases. In a direct spinoff from this work, we have developed a technique which uses ultra-fast (sub-picosecond) lasers to manipulate one of the two electrons so that it writes digital information onto the wavefunction of the other electron. This creates a dynamic memory in a single atom capable of storing several bits. Our research uses a variety of continuous-wave and pulsed laser systems spanning wavelengths from the infra-red to the ultra-violet, with pulse powers as large as 1010 Watts.

"Residual-ion orientation after autoionization," Phys. Rev. A 47, R2438 (1993).

"Technique for measuring linewidths of autoionizing Rydberg States", Phys. Rev. A 55, 1544 (1997).

"Measuring angular distributions with large-acceptance-angle detectors", Meas. Sci. Technol. 12, 299 (2001).