Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Light, atoms and nuclei: the optical discovery of deuterium

Published

Author(s)

Charles W. Clark, Joseph Reader

Abstract

Deuterium was discovered by atomic spectroscopy 80 years ago, and led to the rapid development of nuclear energy and isotope chemistry. Atomic spectroscopy of deuterium remains vibrant, with a recent application to understanding the early universe.
Citation
Optics and Photonics News

Keywords

hydrogen, deuterium, isotope, spectroscopy, cryogenics, boson, fermion, nucleus, mass spectroscopy, heavy water, nuclear weapons

Citation

Clark, C. and Reader, J. (2012), Light, atoms and nuclei: the optical discovery of deuterium, Optics and Photonics News (Accessed November 9, 2024)

Issues

If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact reflib@nist.gov.

Created May 1, 2012, Updated February 19, 2017