Laser spectroscopy

In this interview, David Zierler, Oral Historian for AIP, interviews Carl Wieman, professor of physics and DRC endowed chair in the Department of Engineering at Stanford University. Wieman describes the circumstances leading to this unique appointment and the various responsibilities this service entails. He describes his childhood in a densely wooded area near Corvallis, Oregon, and he conveys the opportunities leading to his undergraduate studies at MIT, where he pursued a major in physics and was mentored by Dan Kleppner in lasers and atomic physics. Wieman explains his decision to attend Stanford for graduate school and he discusses his thesis research on advancing techniques in the spectroscopy of hydrogen. He describes his postdoctoral research at the University of Michigan to work on a parity violation experiment, and he explains the circumstances of his move to the University of Colorado and the attraction of joining the faculty at JILA. Wieman discusses his work on Bose-Einstein condensation and his collaboration with Eric Cornell which led to their recognition with the Nobel Prize. He explains his post-Nobel focus on education research, and he discusses why this field has remained central to his work since 2001. Wieman describes his motivation to join the University of British Columbia faculty, where he found adequate funding support to pursue education research which required his conscious decision to stop doing physics experiments. He describes his policy advising work in OSTP for the Obama administration, and he explains his move to Stanford for which he retained his exclusive interest in education but where he started on new projects including federal support for science education. At the end of the interview, Wieman explains why the future of humanity hinges on advancing science education, and relatedly, why scientists need to conceive of their work beyond the immediacy of their specific research.

Interview with Ambassador C. Paul Robinson, retired as President of Sandia Corporation. He discusses his advisory work since retirement, and the various ways he has remained connected to Sandia. He recounts his childhood in Memphis and his early interests in physics, and he describes the opportunities that led to his graduate research at Florida State University. Robinson describes his thesis work under the direction of Robert H. Davis, who headed the nuclear accelerator laboratory, where he worked on alpha particle scattering on Calcium 40. He describes his interest in pursuing postgraduate work at Los Alamos, and he explains how the academic and the national security sides of the Lab worked to mutual benefit. He describes the Lab’s early work in internal fusion and laser-induced chemistry, and his steadily rising responsibilities at the Lab, including that for the design and certification of nuclear weapons. Robinson discusses his work on nuclear strategy and policy, and he explains the difference between mutually assured destruction and maintaining a second-strike capability. He explains his decision to leave Los Alamos in 1985, and the circumstances leading to him becoming Head of the US Delegation and Ambassador and Chief Negotiator during nuclear testing talks with the Soviet Union. Robinson discusses how the end of the Cold War reformulated U.S. nuclear weapons policy, and the circumstances that led to him joining Sandia. He conveys his pride in Sandia’s leadership work on technology transfer and applying supercomputing toward energy security. At the end of the interview, Robinson reflects on what he has learned in his career in U.S. national security policy, and he speculates on the threats the U.S. faces in an uncertain future.

Laser research at the Universität Heidelberg, 1965-1970. Thesis research. Collaboration on a commercial laser. Hänsch's laboratory style. Frustrations of doing spectroscopy with the early, non-tunable lasers. Laser research at Stanford University. Comparison of resources at Heidelberg and Stanford. The high-resolution, tunable laser of 1971 and the research program it engendered. Also prominently mentioned are: Mark Levenson, Arthur Leonard Schawlow, Isa Shahin, Peter Smith, Peter Toschek; and American Physical Society.