Sylvain 2023/06/16
Read, read, read, read. 
Reading books, lectures, reviews, articles, preprints (…) are an important step into getting familiar with a research field. 
Below are some suggestions.

Books:

Quantum Mechanics

『Quantum Computation and Quantum Information』

Nielsen and Chuang, Cambridge University Press

The gold standard of quantum computing textbooks.

『Quantum Mechanics』

Basdevant and Dalibard, Springer Nature

Good for revisiting your quantum mechanics basics (undergrad/bachelor level).

Atomic Physics / Cold atom

『Atomic Physics』

C. J. Foot, Oxford University Press

A must-read introduction to cold-atom experiments. Cover a wide range of topics, from electronic structures to light-atom interaction, spectroscopy, cooling and trapping.

『Laser Cooling and Trapping』

H. J. Metcalf & P. van der Straten, Springer

Optics

『Principles of Optics』

Born and Wolf, Cambridge University Press

『The Quantum Theory of Light』

Loudon, Oxford Science Publications

『Lasers』

Siegman, University Science Books

If you are interested on how things are working inside your turnkey laser sources, this classic book is for you.

『Ultrafast Lasers』

Keller, Springer Nature

『Nonlinear Optics』

Boyd, Academic Press

Others

『The Feynman Lecture on Physics』

Feynman, Perseus Basic Books

『The Art of Electronics』

Horowitz and Hill, Cambridge University Press

There is no better way to relax than to learn about electronic circuitry from Horowitz and Hill (well, according to Sylvain, who got this nerdy hobby from Thierry, his PhD advisor).

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Reviews

Physics Today news:
These articles are targeted to a broad scientific audience and should be easily accessible.
Note: you need a subscription to read Physics Today articles (your education institution might have one).
・Atomic Beams Stopped by Laser Light, and Trapped (1985)
・Laser Beam Focus Forms Optical Trap for Neutral Atoms (1986)
・Laser Cooling (1987)
・New Mechanisms for Laser Cooling (1990)
・New Frontiers in Quantum Information with Atoms and Ions (2004)
・Experiments show blockading interaction of Rydberg atoms over long distances (2009)

Nobel prizes:
The Nobel lectures written by the Nobel laureates are a nice way to have a broad view of a research field, together with a personal touch.
You can read the Nobel lectures on nobelprize.org, they are also published in Review of Modern Physics (if you prefer the two-column format…).
Below is a list of Nobel prizes somehow related to our research field (of course, I strongly advise to read all Nobel lectures, as other research areas are also fascinating)
・(2022) Aspect, Clauser and Zeilinger: on entanglement
・(2018) Ashkin: on the optical tweezers
・(2018) Mourou and Strickland: on amplification of ultrafast laser pulses 
・(2012) Haroche and Wineland: on manipulation of single quantum systems
・(2009) Kao: on optical fiber
・(2009) Boyle and Smith: on CCD sensor
・(2005) Glauber: on quantum optics
・(2005) Hall and Hänsch: on optical frequency comb and precision spectroscopy
・(2001) Cornell, Ketterle, Wieman: on Bose-Einstein Condensates with ultracold atoms
・(1997) Chu, Cohen-Tannoudji, Phillips: on cold atoms (laser cooling and trapping)
・(1989) Ramsey: on the Ramsey technique
・(1989) Dehmelt and Paul: on ion traps
・(1981) Bloembergen and Schawlow: on the laser
・(1973) Josephson: on the Josephson effect
・(1966) Kastler: on optical pumping
・(1955) Lamb: on the Lamb shift

Scientific reviews:
These reviews target graduate students or researchers entering or already in the field.
If you do not have access to these journals, you will also find the reviews on arxiv.com
・Saffman, Walker & Mølmer, “Quantum information with Rydberg atoms”, Review of Modern Physics 82, 2313 (2010)
・“Special issue on Rydberg atomic physics”, Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics
・Browaeys & Lahaye, “Many-body physics with individually controlled Rydberg atoms”, Nature Physics 16, 132 (2020)
・Kaufman & Ni, “Quantum science with optical tweezer arrays of ultracold atoms and molecules”, Nature Physics 17, 1324 (2021)

For calculations

Here are a few good places to find physical constants, fundamental or specific to Rubidium atoms.

・D. A. Steck 『Rubidium 87 D Line Data (pdf)』
In addition to the basic concepts and formulas of atomic physics, this note summarizes the level structure, transition frequencies, and various physical quantities of the Rubidium atom. Essential for experiments.

・S. Weber and coworkers『Pairinteraction – A Rydberg Interaction Calculator』

・N. Šibalić and coworkers『ARC – Alkali Rydberg Calculator』

・These two Python libraries are amazing tools to access all relevant properties of Rydberg atoms: energies, dipole matrix elements, interaction strength, sensibility to E-field… you name it, they have it ! Get familiar with these tools by following their tutorials.

『QuTiP: Quantum Toolbox in Python』
A Python library for calculation on quantum systems. Nice collection of tutorials !

・from scipy.constants import
for all fundamental constants that you have (temporally) forgotten ; )

Videos

Forget Netflix, Hulu, or Disney+. Save money and get smarter by watching free online videos. 

“Quantum Science Seminar”,   (no new videos, but a nice collection of ~70 talks)

“Virtual AMO Seminar”
These two seminar series started with covid. While the rate of new videos have now decreased (or stopped), they have gathered a nice collection of talks.

“Boulder Summer School 2021”

and much more could be found by yourself… 

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