The Software Atom

Abstract By putting together an abstract view on quantum mechanics and a quantum-optics picture of the interactions of an atom with light, we develop a corresponding set of C++ classes that set up the numerical analysis of an atom with an arbitrary set of angular-momentum degenerate energy levels, arbitrary light fields, and an applied magnetic field. As an example, we develop and implement perturbation theory to compute the polarizability of an atom in an experimentally relevant situation.

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