Precision Measurement of Highly Excited Atoms and Molecules: from the Infrared to the Vacuum Ultraviolet

The precision measurement of excitations in atoms and molecules serves as a test bed for state-of-the-art theoretical frameworks, including quantum electrodynamics, and helps us to understand the dynamics and energetics of physical and chemical processes. This proposal aims to develop further the laser and optical technologies used for performing extremely high-resolution measurements using narrowband tunable laser radiation from the infrared to the vacuum ultraviolet. These techniques will be applied to study the 1S - 2S transition in helium, for a benchmark measurement of its ground-state Lamb shift, and to understand the dissociation dynamics and energetics of highly excited molecules.