Cold Rydberg Gases and Ultracold Plasmas

held in tandem with MPIPKS

September 06-17, 2010

Dresden Germany

Scientific Coordinators:
Charles S. Adams (Durham University, UK)
Thomas Pohl (MPIPKS Dresden, Germany)
Hossein R. Sadeghpour (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, USA)

 

Organisation:
Claudia Pönisch (MPIPKS Dresden, Germany)

In recent years there has been an explosion of activity on cold Rydberg gases resulting in a diverse range of exciting developments that combine aspects of atomic and molecular physics, nonlinear optics, statistical physics, quantum information science, condensed matter and plasma physics. This workshop was held to promote scientific exchange and interaction between researchers working in these and related areas.

The workshop covered a range of topics, including the dynamics and exotic phases of strongly interacting quantum systems, as occurring in ultracold molecular and Rydberg gases, coherent control of Rydberg atoms and molecules, with applications in quantum optics and quantum information, formation of Rydberg and antimatter atoms and their interactions with strong fields and solid state interfaces, as well as ultracold plasma physics.

The two week event was part of a Tandem Workshop program with the Institute for Theoretical Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (ITAMP) at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (see\\ http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/itamp/Rydberg09.html).

The first workshop week will consist of invited talks and contributed poster presentations. During the second week we will provide extensive time for informal talks and discussions among a smaller number of researchers, intended to explore common interests and possibly initiate collaborative work.