Lamb-Retherford Experiment

Lamb-Retherford Experiment

 

an experiment consisting in the measurement, predicted by quantum electrodynamics, of the small shift between the 22S1/2 and 22P1/2 energy levels of hydrogen and deuterium atoms. These levels in the original theory of P. Dirac were the same. The measurements were conducted by the American physicists W. Lamb and R. Retherford between 1947 and 1953 by the methods of radio-frequency spectroscopy and completely confirmed the conclusions of quantum electrodynamics.