Teaching

Summer term

Advanced Quantum Optics

Topics:

Two physical quantities or observations can be correlated, but this does not necessarily imply that one is the cause of the other. This lecture gives an introduction into the modern theory of causality, which uses rigorous notions of causes, effects, and interventions and allows to infer causal structures from observations. Topics are:

• Statistical dependencies: Bayesian reasoning and Simpson’s paradox
• Causal models and their graphical description
• Effects of interventions and latent variables
• Causal inference: How to identify cause and effect?
• Applications in physics, sociology and medicine

Winter term

Experimental physics 3 (quantum mechanics)

Topics:

• Repeating wave optics – interference, polarization, …
• Limits of classical physics – wave-particle dualism, Bohr’s atomic model, …
• Fundamentals of quantum mechanics – Schrödinger equation, …
• Fundamentals of atomic physics – hydrogen atom, fine structure, Zeeman effect, …

https://moodle.uni-siegen.de/course/view.php?id=35637

Master lab (laser spectroscopy)

The aim of the experiment is to explore some basic concepts from quantum optics and spectroscopy and to give a small impression of modern setups with sophisticated lasers and optics. Such or similar setups can also be found in current research in the Quantum Optics working group.

Advanced bachelor lab (Paul trap)

This experiment also deals with relevant topics from our laboratories. The aim is to understand how the ion traps we use work using a macroscopic Paul trap for lycopodium spores.