A famous account of Lamb and Retherford's circa 1946 discoveries about

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In summary, Lamb and Retherford's circa 1946 discoveries about the Hydrogen spectrum, which led to the development of QED, were made using microwave techniques developed during WWII. However, the original papers do not provide much detail about their equipment and practices. The 1947 paper in Phys. Rev. briefly mentions their detector setup but the subsequent paper in 1950 suggests they did not use microwave radiation. They do mention two German papers that may have more information. Schweber's book discusses the experiment but not in depth. It is possible that more information can be found in the Columbia Radiation Laboratory Reports. Overall, there is a lack of detailed documentation of this Nobel Prize winning experiment.
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A famous account of Lamb and Retherford's circa 1946 discoveries about the Hydrogen spectrum which led to the development if QED is that they "used microwave techniques delveloped in the Radar research of WWII."

What I am looking for is some nitty-gritty description of their actual equipent and practice. I am especially interested in their detector setup and whether and how they use microwave bolometers in that early day. Anybody know?
 
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I am assuming that the original papers are sparse with details on the equipment used?
The 1947 paper in Phys. Rev. has a very brief description but absolutely no detail.

The subsequent paper in 1950 seems to say that they did not use the microwave radiation technique ([1], beginning of section 4, top of page 552), but while considering it, they came up with the technique they did use. They devoted the Appendix I to an order of magnitude calculation using a Woods chamber.

They make reference to two German papers (ref. 17,18 in [1]) that may be of interest. I don't know German, so I cannot help you there.

I don't have time to look into the Phys. Rev. papers in detail, but maybe later tonight I can stomp around the library and the internet to churn up some information.

Cheers and good luck,
Ryan

[1] Phys. Rev. 79, 549–572 (1950)
 
  • #3
Thanks for this nice effort Ryan. As you say their original paper which I have seen a reprint of, does not give any detail. My interest was in whether a homebuilt reproduction of their equipment - not a modern version with solid state detectors, etc. would be possible. And if so whether their measurements could be repeated with it. Sort of the physics equivalence of recreating Civil War battles and equipment.
 
  • #4
This probably won't be of much help, but I think what you want may be in the library of Columbia University.

From https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691033277/?tag=pfamazon01-20 by Silvan Schweber:

The history of their joint enterprise is chronicled in the Columbia Radiation Laboratory Reports from October 1946 to March 1948.

The above book does give a few of the details of the experiments, but not in as much depth as you appear to want.

In any case, this is a book that I think you would enjoy greatly. It gives interesting biographical material that includes the mathematics, and also talks about the contibutions of Bethe, Dirac, Lamb, Oppenheimer, Pauli, Weisskopf, etc.
 
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Thank you George. In fact I do have chweber's book and have read it, although I last dipped into it several years ago. Thanks for the suggestion though.

It's amazing to me that the details of a Nobel Prize winning experiment should have just fallen into the bit bucket. A warning to us all, document! Document! And make sure others know where you put the documentation.
 

1. What were the discoveries made by Lamb and Retherford in 1946?

In 1946, Lamb and Retherford discovered two important phenomena related to the hydrogen atom. The first was the Lamb shift, which is a small splitting of energy levels in the atom. The second was the hyperfine structure, which is a splitting of energy levels due to the interaction between the electron and the nucleus of the atom.

2. Why were Lamb and Retherford's discoveries considered significant?

The discoveries made by Lamb and Retherford were significant because they provided evidence for the existence of subatomic particles and helped to further our understanding of atomic structure. They also laid the foundation for the development of quantum electrodynamics, which is a theory that describes the interactions between subatomic particles and electromagnetic fields.

3. How did Lamb and Retherford make their discoveries?

Lamb and Retherford used a technique known as spectroscopy to make their discoveries. This involves shining light of a certain wavelength on atoms and observing the resulting emission or absorption spectra. By carefully analyzing the spectra of hydrogen atoms, they were able to identify the Lamb shift and hyperfine structure.

4. What impact did Lamb and Retherford's discoveries have on the scientific community?

Lamb and Retherford's discoveries had a significant impact on the scientific community. They confirmed the validity of quantum mechanics and provided crucial evidence for the existence of subatomic particles. Their work also led to further research in the field of atomic and quantum physics, paving the way for many important discoveries in the future.

5. How do Lamb and Retherford's discoveries continue to be relevant today?

Lamb and Retherford's discoveries continue to be relevant today as they are still used to study and understand the behavior of atoms and subatomic particles. The techniques and theories they developed have been built upon and expanded, leading to new advancements in fields such as quantum computing and particle physics. Their discoveries also serve as a reminder of the importance of curiosity and experimentation in scientific research.

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