Role within programme and connections to other courses. For an undergraduate student, atomic and molecular physics is one of the most fundamental applications of quantum mechanics in the curriculum. The course provides a firm grounding in quantum angular momentum theory, including spin and angular momentum coupling, and makes extensive use of the matrix approach to quantum physics calculations. The course is linked to all courses in the quantum mechanics stream, and to optics.
Content. Quantum angular momentum concepts, including orbital angular momentum, spin, and angular momentum coupling, the hydrogen atom, including spin-orbit and hyperfine interactions, methods and approaches to multi-electron atoms, topics in molecular physics, including development of the Hamiltonian, the Born-Oppenheimer approximation, and the structure of molecular spectra. Usually offered on rotation with Subatomic Physics and Solid State Physics.