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cover: In atomic and molecular physics, Norman Ramsey (1915–2011) is best known for a precision spectroscopy technique that now bears his name—Ramsey’s separated oscillatory fields method. The 1949 invention resulted from his quest to sharpen the spectral resolution of molecular-beam magnetic resonance, as Daniel Kleppner recounts on page 25. Ramsey’s own description in 1980 (reprinted on page 36) details the method’s various advantages and extensions. In their article on page 27, Serge Haroche, Michel Brune, and Jean-Michel Raimond describe more recent adaptations that enable the preparation, counting, and manipulation of photons in cavity quantum electrodynamics experiments. (Ramsey photo courtesy of the AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Ramsey Collection.)

Select this Article FREE		Norman Ramsey and his method Daniel Kleppner


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	+ -	Show Topic While searching for a way to boost the resolution of an atomic spectrometer, Ramsey hit on a simple solution: Replace a single oscillating magnetic field with two separated ones.

Select this Article		Atomic clocks for controlling light fields Serge Haroche, Michel Brune, and Jean-Michel Raimond


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	+ -	Show Topic Norman Ramsey’s interferometer has matured into a tool that can nondestructively detect the birth and death of single photons, prepare photon number states via feedback loops, and entangle atoms and photons into Schrödinger-cat states.

Select this Article		The method of successive oscillatory fields Norman F. Ramsey


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	+ -	Show Topic An extension of Rabi’s molecular-beam resonance method, originally devised for measuring nuclear magnetic moments, is proving useful also for microwave spectroscopy, masers and lasers.

Select this Article FREE		Readers say scientists can, indeed, knock on heaven’s door Don Dilworth


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Select this Article FREE		Readers say scientists can, indeed, knock on heaven’s door George H. Shaw


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BROWSE VOLUMES

January 2013

Volume 66, Issue 1

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Select this Article FREE		Former student pays tribute to Wineland David Kielpinski


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Select this Article FREE		Relativity text recommendation Milton E. Lumpkin


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Select this Article FREE		National labs compliance maze stymies foreign visitor Elmar Träbert


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Select this Article FREE		Simple, low-tech option for carbon sequestration Philip Ugorowski


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Select this Article FREE		Cooling molecules the optoelectric way Johanna L. Miller


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	+ -	Show Topic In a newly implemented technique, the complex rotational and vibrational motions of molecules are not a hindrance but a help.

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	+ -	Show Topic The first observations of shape-shifting droplets in a rubbery polymer reveal the connection between fluid instabilities and dielectric breakdown.

Select this Article		A liquid ground state for 2D helium-3? Ashley G. Smart


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	+ -	Show Topic New experiments hint at what could be the lowest-density liquid ever found in nature.

Select this Article		An ultrathin film as near-perfect IR absorber R. Mark Wilson


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Select this Article		Fractionally charged particles not yet seen Bertram M. Schwarzschild


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Select this Article		When the universe was slowing down Stephen G. Benka


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Select this Article		Tracking Ebola virus within host cells Charles Day


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Select this Article FREE		Russia launches S&T university Toni Feder


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	+ -	Show Topic The top-down initiative aims to be interdisciplinary and international and to breed entrepreneurship.

Select this Article		National Academy of Sciences to run environmental program from BP settlement Toni Feder


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Select this Article		Ferroelectric refrigeration Richard J. Fitzgerald


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Select this Article		Primed plasmas deliver better ion beams Ashley G. Smart


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Select this Article		US nuclear plants getting Fukushima-inspired safety upgrades David Kramer


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Select this Article		Big gift to Texas A&M Toni Feder


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Select this Article		ARRA props up university R&D Toni Feder


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Select this Article FREE		Einstein’s Jewish Science: Physics at the Intersection of Politics and Religion; The Practical Einstein: Experiments, Patents, Inventions Don Howard, Reviewer


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Select this Article FREE		Pierre-Gilles de Gennes: A Life in Science Murugappan Muthukumar, Reviewer


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Select this Article FREE		Introduction to Holography Wolfgang Osten, Reviewer


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Select this Article FREE		The Story of Earth: The First 4.5 Billion Years, from Stardust to Living Planet Christopher P. McKay, Reviewer


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Select this Article FREE		Focus on bioinstrumentation and biotechnologies


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Select this Article FREE		Richard George Brewer Paul Berman and Erwin Hahn


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Select this Article FREE		Carried by impulse: The physics of water jetpacks Matthew Vonk and Peter Bohacek


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	+ -	Show Topic A jetpack can suspend a pilot in midair, in a way reminiscent of a magic carpet. But the magic is all in mechanical forces that can be readily estimated.

Select this Article		Coral cilia cause a stir


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