Is getting a lot more precise

I. Translate the following words and phrases from the text.

1. … the difficulty of measuring with a precision adequate for the scientific and technological task at hand.

2. … frequencies in the infrared not to mention the visible and ultraviolet are already much too fast for electronic counting.

3. … and the optical frequency one is trying to measure.

4. … because the 2S state in hydrogen is very long-lived.

5. … the problem was now to determine the absolute frequency of resonance with high precision.

7. Where ▲ is the mismatch one seeks to measure between it and the standard’s 7^th harmonic.

8. That’s less likely to be a problem with the theory than with the measured charge radius of the proton.

9. One would like to be able to compare it with more precise measurements of the proton charge radius.

10.High-precision measurements seem to have stimulated a renaissance of quantum electrodynamics calculations.

Ultraviolet transition, frequency, optical frequencies, the best previous accuracy, two orders of magnitude, verification, a hot topic, opposite directions, tunable dye laser, a reference standard, mismatch, a powerful phase-locked colour centre laser, ragged edge, laser illumination, a time delay, to convince, frequency divider chain.

II. Translate the passages from English into Russian.

1.Page 19. from … at the Max Planck Institute to any astronomical data we have.

2.Page 20. from … the general problem to … too fast for electronic counting.

3. from … very accurate optical reference … to … is trying to measure.

4. …the essence of the new technique … to … the original frequency gap by a factor by a factor 2 ⁿ .

5. … the two opposing beams … of the resonance with high precision.

6. … the calibrated frequency of the He-Ne standard to … for further comparison.

7. … the new Garching result improves … to … a single optical cycle.

8. … the paragraph “Spreading the technique.”

III. Give English equivalents to the following words and expressions from the text.

Точный, постоянная, высокоточный метод, делитель частоты, практическое применение, портативный, атомные часы, полупроводниковый лазер, сжимать, совпадение, лазер на красителе, частота, инфракрасный, ультрафиолетовый, видимый, луч лазера, резонанс, внешнее электрическое поле, техническая задача, улучшать, сдвиг, измерение, радиус, исходная частота, измерять.

IV. Translate the following sentences from Russian into English.

1.Самое точное измерение любой частоты возможно при помощи нового высокоточного метода в видимом или ультрафиолетовом диапазоне.

2.Хэнси и его коллеги разработали этот высокоточный метод.

3.Трудность состоит в том, чтобы измерить оптическую частоту с точностью, адекватной современным научным и техническим задачам.

4.Каждый каскад делителя принимает две входные частоты лазера.

5.Источник пучка – лазер на красителе плюс кристалл.

6.Вы можете думать о нашем результате как о новом измерении радиуса заряда.

V. Answer the following questions.

1. Where can the frequency be measured the most accurately nowadays?

2. Where does Theodore Hänsch work?

3. What was Dirac’s opinion about varying the fundamental constants?

4. What is the essence of the new technique?

5. In what way were the two opposing beams produced?

6. What advantage did Hänsch and his colleagues of coincidence?

7. What is the calibrated frequency f of the He-Ne standard?

8. What was taken as a first divider stage by the Garching group?

9. Does the new Garching result improve considerably the previous determination of the Rydberg constant?

10.What has the Garching group succeeded in in recent months?