Sylvain Liberman

Sylvain Liberman received his doctorate in 1971 from Orsay's Paris-Sud University (Paris XI), which in 2020 was replaced by Paris-Saclay University. His dissertation is entitled Études de structures hyperfines et d'effets isotopiques dans les raies laser infrarouges de gaz rares (Studies of hyperfine structures and of isotopic effects generated by infrared lasers in spectrographic lines of noble gases). From 1971 until his death in 1988 he did research for the CNRS in Orsay and at the Laboratoire Aimé-Cotton (LAC).{{cite journal| last=Jacquinot | first=P. | journal=AIP Conference Proceedings|title=Memorial to Sylvain Liberman by Pierre Jacquinot | publisher=AIP Publishing| date=August 1991 | issn=0094-243X | doi=10.1063/1.41000 |volume=233|issue=1| pages=579–584 |url=https://pubs.aip.org/aip/acp/article-abstract/233/1/579/760240/Memorial-to-Sylvain-Liberman?redirectedFrom=fulltext}}{{cite web | title=Laboratoire Aimé Cotton (LAC) | website=Université Paris-Saclay | date=2023-05-16 | url=http://www.universite-paris-saclay.fr/en/laboratories/laboratoire-aime-cotton-lac-0 }} (See Aimé Cotton.){{cite web | title=About LAC | website=LAC | date=2021-08-06 | url=http://www.lac.u-psud.fr/?page_id=2119&lang=en }} From 1981 until his death he was director of the Laboratoire Aimé-Cotton (which was jointly operated by the CNRS and the Paris-Sud University).

Liberman was involved in the development of a single-mode pulsed laser with excellent pointing stability. (Pointing stability is a measure (usually in mr or μr) of how much the laser beam position drifts from the target over time.) He and his colleagues developed an ultra-sensitive method for measuring optical resonances using either resonance ionization or deflections of atomic jets extracted from a magneto-optical trap.{{cite journal | last1=Wohlleben | first1=W. | last2=Chevy | first2=F. | last3=Madison | first3=K. | last4=Dalibard | first4=J. | title=An atom faucet | journal=The European Physical Journal D | publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC | volume=15 | issue=2 | year=2001 | issn=1434-6060 | doi=10.1007/s100530170171 | pages=237–244| arxiv=physics/0103085 | bibcode=2001EPJD...15..237W }} [https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0103085 arXiv preprint] He also made contributions to the understanding of Rydberg states, spontaneous collective decays (superradiance, subradiance){{cite book | title=Laser spectroscopy IX. Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Laser Spectroscopy; Bretton Woods, New Hampshire; June 18–23, 1989 | year=2012 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q2R_wCZASgEC&pg=PA462 |chapter=Tribute to Sylvain Liberman by Pierre Jacquinot| isbn=978-0-323-14695-1 | last1=Feld | first1=Michael | publisher=Elsevier }} (p. 462) and the hyperfine interaction of radioactive atoms, which he and his colleagues investigated at CERN using the ISOLDE facility.{{cite book | title=Laser spectroscopy IX. Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Laser Spectroscopy; Bretton Woods, New Hampshire; June 18–23, 1989 | year=2012 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q2R_wCZASgEC&pg=PA461 |chapter=Tribute to Sylvain Liberman by Pierre Jacquinot| isbn=978-0-323-14695-1 | last1=Feld | first1=Michael | publisher=Elsevier }} (p. 461) He and his colleagues found significant differences in nuclear properties from the study of hyperfine structure when studying isotopic families (such as cesium in the mass range 118 to 145{{cite journal|doi=10.1016/0375-9474(81)90274-8 |title=Hyperfine structure and isotope shift of the D₂ line of ^118–145Cs and some of their isomers |year=1981 |last1=Thibault |first1=C. |last2=Touchard |first2=F. |last3=Büttgenbach |first3=S. |last4=Klapisch |first4=R. |last5=De Saint Simon |first5=M. |last6=Duong |first6=H.T. |last7=Jacquinot |first7=P. |last8=Juncar |first8=P. |last9=Liberman |first9=S. |last10=Pillet |first10=P. |last11=Pinard |first11=J. |last12=Vialle |first12=J.L. |last13=Pesnelle |first13=A. |last14=Huber |first14=G. |author15=Isolde Collaboration |journal=Nuclear Physics A |volume=367 |issue=1 |pages=1–12 |bibcode=1981NuPhA.367....1T }} and potassium in the mass range 38 to 47{{cite journal|doi=10.1016/0370-2693(82)91167-4 |title=Isotope shifts and hyperfine structure of ^38–47K by laser spectroscopy |year=1982 |last1=Touchard |first1=F. |last2=Guimbal |first2=P. |last3=Büttgenbach |first3=S. |last4=Klapisch |first4=R. |last5=De Saint Simon |first5=M. |last6=Serre |first6=J.M. |last7=Thibault |first7=C. |last8=Duong |first8=H.T. |last9=Juncar |first9=P. |last10=Liberman |first10=S. |last11=Pinard |first11=J. |last12=Vialle |first12=J.L. |journal=Physics Letters B |volume=108 |issue=3 |pages=169–171 |bibcode=1982PhLB..108..169T }}). At CERN, he led the team credited with the first recording of a line of the optical spectrum of francium.{{cite journal|author=Liberman, S.|title=Lumière sur le francium (Light on francium)|journal=Recherche|volume=9|issue=92|pages=784–785|url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/879070}} (The D₂ line represents for the 7s – 7p transition and splits into two lines due to hyperfine structure.) Before that, francium was the only element with an atomic number below 100 for which no optical transition had been observed.{{cite book|author=Krige, John|author-link=John Krige|title=History of CERN|volume=3|page=392|year=1996|publisher=Elsevier}}

In 1985 he received the Prix des trois physiciens.

• {{cite journal|url=https://doi.org/10.1051/jphys:0196900300105300 |doi=10.1051/jphys:0196900300105300 |title=Étude théorique des configurations 5p5(6s + 5d) et 5p 5(6p + 7p) du xénon I et de leur structure hyperfine |year=1969 |last1=Liberman |first1=Sylvain |journal=Journal de Physique |volume=30 |pages=53–62 }}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1016/0030-4018(76)90313-8 |title=Detection and study of Rb I Rydberg states |year=1976 |last1=Tuan |first1=Duong Hong |last2=Liberman |first2=Sylvain |last3=Pinard |first3=Jacques |journal=Optics Communications |volume=18 |issue=4 |pages=533–535 |bibcode=1976OptCo..18..533T }}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.50.888 |title=Experimental Study of Stimulated Radiative Corrections on an Atomic Rydberg State |year=1983 |last1=Liberman |first1=S. |last2=Pinard |first2=J. |last3=Taleb |first3=A. |journal=Physical Review Letters |volume=50 |issue=12 |pages=888–891 |bibcode=1983PhRvL..50..888L }}
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.54.1917 |title=Experimental Evidence for Subradiance |year=1985 |last1=Pavolini |first1=D. |last2=Crubellier |first2=A. |last3=Pillet |first3=P. |last4=Cabaret |first4=L. |last5=Liberman |first5=S. |journal=Physical Review Letters |volume=54 |issue=17 |pages=1917–1920 |pmid=10031175 |bibcode=1985PhRvL..54.1917P }} 1985
• {{cite journal|doi=10.1088/0022-3700/18/18/022 |title=Superradiance and subradiance. I. Interatomic interference and symmetry properties in three-level systems |year=1985 |last1=Crubellier |first1=A. |last2=Liberman |first2=S. |last3=Pavolini |first3=D. |last4=Pillet |first4=P. |journal=Journal of Physics B: Atomic and Molecular Physics |volume=18 |issue=18 |pages=3811–3833 |bibcode=1985JPhB...18.3811C }} 1985
• {{cite book|editor=Briand, Jean Pierre|chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4757-9337-6_3 |doi=10.1007/978-1-4757-9337-6_3 |chapter=Study of Isotopes Far from the Stability Line by Sylvain Liberman |title=Atoms in Unusual Situations |series=Nato ASI Series |year=1986 |last1=Liberman |first1=Sylvain |volume=143 |pages=37–53 |isbn=978-1-4757-9339-0 }}

• {{cite book|editor=Balian, Roger|editor-link=Roger Balian|editor2=Haroche, Serge|editor-link2=Serge Haroche|editor3=Liberman, Sylvain|title=Aux frontières de la spectroscopie laser= Frontiers in laser spectroscopy|series=Les Houches, session XXVII, 30 juin-26 juillet 1975|year=1977}} (lectures in English at the physics summer school in Les Houches)

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Category:1934 births

Category:1988 deaths

Category:20th-century French physicists

Category:Laser researchers

Category:Spectroscopists

Category:Paris-Saclay University alumni

Category:Research directors of the French National Centre for Scientific Research

Category:People associated with CERN