A Norman Ramsey cover story
DOI: 10.1063/PT.3.2022
The January 2013
Although originally designed for high-precision measurements of hyperfine structure in molecules, the apparatus was later used for a search for P- and T-violating effects in molecules. 1 After Norman closed down his Harvard laboratory in the 1980s, the apparatus was transported to St. Olaf College in Minnesota, where Jim Cederberg, another Ramsey graduate student, used it for undergraduate research projects for more than 25 years. During that time, according to Jim’s website, more than 70 students worked with the apparatus to study the hyperfine structure of polar molecules; that work resulted in 16 published papers. A few years after Jim retired from St. Olaf, the apparatus was moved to Georgia’s Southern Polytechnic State University; under the direction of Lu Kang, it will, I hope, inspire another generation of students in the joys of atomic and molecular spectroscopy.
Not only does Norman’s intellectual legacy live on, but at least in this case, the physical apparatus itself continues to be productive after more than 40 years of active use.
References
1. D. A. Wilkening, N. F. Ramsey, D. J. Larson, Phys. Rev. A 29, 425 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.29.425
More about the Authors
Robert C. Hilborn. (rhilborn@aapt.org) American Association of Physics Teachers, College Park, Maryland.