HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 1998 DAMOP

SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM

Highlights of the meeting include two special plenary sessions. At the opening plenary session on Wednesday, May 27, there will be lectures from three of this year's winners of APS prizes: Sheldon Datz (Davisson-Germer Prize), F. Fleming Crim (Earle K. Plyler Prize) and M. Raymond Flannery (Will Allis Prize). A plenary session on Saturday, May 30, will feature addresses from two of the winners of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics: Steven Chu (Stanford University) and William Phillips (NIST - Gaithersburg). The Nobel Prize talks will focus on laser cooling and trapping of atoms, as well as sharing tales of the Stockholm experience with the DAMOP community.

In addition, there will be two special sessions featuring student research. On Thursday morning, May 28, the AMO Thesis Award finalists will present their research in a special session chaired by Carol Tanner, chair of the AMO Thesis Award Committee. On Saturday morning, May 30, in an Undergraduate Research Session (organized by Don Madison), taking place just before the Nobel Prize Plenary lectures, five selected undergraduates will give talks on their research.

There will be approximately 24 sessions of oral contributed papers and there will be a poster session held each afternoon of the meeting. Invited talks will be given in 15 symposia as listed below:

Macroscopic Quantum States: BEC and Atom Lasers (chair, R. Hulet)
L. Hau, E. Timmermans, M. Holland, H.-J. Miesner

Quantum State Manipulation and Control (chair, P. Meystre)
S. Haroche, D. Wineland, C. Stroud, and I. Walmsley

Electronic Spectroscopy of real and artificial atoms and molecules (chair, R. Gordon)
P. Bucksbaum, M. Bawendi, F. Merkt, and R. Westervelt

New Results in Electron and Positron collision physics (chair, W. McConkey)
T. Walker, A. Pradhan, D. Madison, and T. Stein

"Hot" Research with cold atoms and molecules (chair, S. Rolston)
S. Kulin, P. Jessen, J. Doyle, and R. Forrey

Atomic Manipulation (chair, B. Dunning)
J. Gimzewski, J. McClelland, D. Anderson, and C. Reinhold

Recent Advances in Atomic and Molecular Astrophysics (chair, K. Kirby)
P. Stancil, L. Ziurys, M. McCarthy, and J. Kohl

Industrial Applications of AMO Physics (chair, D. Cartwright)
J. Plummer, A. Tasch, M. Kushner, and W. Porod

New Results in Ion-Atom Collisions (chair, F. Meyer)
J. Geddes, M. Prior, L. Wiese and I. Ben-Itzhak

Optical Techniques in Molecular Biology (chair, S. Pratt)
K. Visscher, C. Bustamante, R. Keller, and P. Schwille

X-Ray AMO Physics (chair, D. Lindle)
D. Eder, E. Kanter, J. Nordgren, and P. Langhoff

Coherent Control of Atomic and Molecular Processes (chair, W. R. Garrett)
R. Gordon, L. DiMauro, D. Reitze, and K. Wilson

Spin Polarized Noble Gases: Physics and Applications (chair, T. Chupp)
G. Cates, R. Walsworth, G. Tastevin, and J. Yarger

Multiphoton Processes (chair, L. van Woerkum)
P. Agostini and P. Lambropoulos and selected contributed papers

Molecular Dissociation (chair, W. Huo)
P. Cosby, J.W. McConkey, and L. Collins

SPECIAL EVENTS

Tuesday, May 26

A reception will be held at the Palace of the Governors on the Plaza from 18:00 to 21:00.

Wednesday, May 27

The DAMOP Business Meeting will be held from 18:00 to 19:00 in Room 1 of the Sweeney Center. Plan to attend in order to hear about Division activities and plans for future meetings.

Thursday, May 28

A Drop-in Hour for Physical Review A and Physical Review Letters will be held 16:00 - 18:00 in Room 1 of the Sweeney Center. Editors of PRA and PRL will be available to answer questions and share concerns about the journals. All are welcome.

A Networking Reception for Women in AMO Physics will be held 17:30 - 18:30 in Room 2 of the Sweeney Center.

A meeting of the Theoretical Atomic, Molecular and Optical Community (TAMOC) will be held from 20:00 to 22:00 in Room 1 of the Sweeney Center.

Friday, May 29

News and Updates on AMO Physics programs and directions from the Office of Basic Energy Sciences at DOE will be given by Dr. Patricia Dehmer, Director, BES, from 17:30 to 19:00 in Room 1 of the Sweeney Center.

The Conference Banquet will be held at 20:00 on the main floor of the Sweeney Center. It will be preceded by a reception at 19:15. The banquet program will include presentations of Fellowship certificates to APS members elected to fellowship through DAMOP. The after-dinner talk will be given by Rolf Sinclair of the NSF, who will speak on "How Physics Took Me to Chaco Canyon and to Antarctica ..." (this talk will explain the significance of our sun dagger logo).

Saturday, May 30

A reception and buffet lunch will follow immediately the Nobel Prize Plenary Session on the main floor of the Sweeney Convention Center.

At 15:30-17:00 there will be an informal discussion of NASA interest in supporting cold-atom physics which might profit from space- based experiments. Dr. Lute Maleki (JPL) will lead the session in Room 1 of the Sweeney Center. All members of the community are welcome, but especially those with research programs in the area of cooling and trapping.