DAMOP/DAMPhi 2010 Information
The 41st meeting of the Division of Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics (DAMOP) of the American Physical Society (APS) is being held jointly this year with the Division of Atomic and Molecular Physics and Photon Interactions (DAMPΦ) of the Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP). The conference is hosted by Rice University and will take place at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Houston, TX from Tuesday 25 May through Saturday 29 May 2010. Houston is a diverse vibrant city with many cultural and historic sites within an easy walk, ride, or drive of the conference hotel. The conference web site contains detailed information about the conference and the attractions available for accompanying persons.
Abstract Submission
The deadline for contributed abstracts was Friday 22 January 2010. The total number of submitted abstracts, 1029, reached a new record high (93 invited, 469 oral, and 467 poster). We are grateful to and would like to thank all those who participated in the abstract sorter’s meeting: Randy Hulet, Barry Dunning, Satyan Bhongale, Adilet Imambekov, Tom Killian, Han Pu and Sophie Rittner all from Rice U. and Alexei Sokolov (TAMU), Daniel Vrinceanu (TSU), Tom Weinacht (Stony Brook), George Welch (TAMU), Lou DiMauro (OSU), Chris Monroe (U. Maryland), and Carol Tanner (Notre Dame). Vinaya Sathyasheelappa of the APS meetings department expertly guided the process. All of the sorters would also like to thank Umbe Cantu (Conference Administrator) for taking such good care of everyone by making breakfast and suggesting the restaurant where we celebrated the completion of a long day. The sorting took a little more time than usual because of the record number of submissions. Some difficult decisions were required in order to fit the all of abstracts into the five day conference with only six parallel sessions. The program is now online at the APS web site.
Registration
The registration fee includes all receptions, breaks, and the conference banquet. On-line registration is still open until Friday 30 April 2010 through the APS web page.
After 30 April 2010, registration is only on-site beginning Tuesday 25 May 2010 at 4 pm at Imperial Ballroom Foyer in the Hyatt Regency downtown Houston. Additional information about registration and fees can be found through the links on the above web page.
Preregistration totals have already reached 947 participants with 457 of those being students. This preregistration total is higher than all previous DAMOP meetings and is extrapolated to reach ~1050 during the meeting.
Accommodations
Blocks of rooms have been reserved in Hyatt Regency and the nearby Crowne Plaza Hotel. If you have not made your reservation, make your reservation now as rooms are filling up quickly. Special conference rates are available at both hotels. The conference rate at the Hyatt is available until April 25, but it is probably full already. The conference rate at the Crowne Plaza Hotel is available until May 10, 2010. Links to both hotels are listed on the conference website.
The conference organizers have reached an agreement with a new overflow hotel called Club Quarters, downtown. Their contact information is Club Quarters, 720 Fannin Street, Houston, TX 77002, phone number for reservations is 212-575-0006. The code name to receive the negotiated rate of $89/night for single/double occupancy is DAMOP.
Registrants who encounter problems making a hotel reservation should contact:
Umbe Cantu
Conference Administrator
Rice University
Department of Physics and Astronomy
MS-108
Houston, TX 77005
Accompanying Persons Program
A list of suggested tourist activities in the Houston/Galveston area is available on the conference web site.
Travel to Houston by Air
Houston is served by two major airports that are approximately equidistant from the conference hotel: George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) and William P. Hobby Airport (HOU).
Travel from Airports to Hotels
Student Travel Support
The level of student participation at DAMOP meetings rises every year, and we believe it is one of the reasons why the meeting is so energetic and interesting. The DAMOP Education Committee works hard every year to obtain Student Travel Support funds from various government agencies to assist as many students as possible. This year over 150 students applied for support. Each year priority is given to students who have submitted an abstract and have not received support in the past. At this time, 80 students were notified by email that they have been selected to receive support. Many thanks are due to the DAMOP Education Committee Jan Chaloupka (Chair), Tom Donnelly, Kat Gillen-Christandl, and Barry Walker for their hard work in obtaining funds.
Invitation Letter for Visa Purposes
Individuals requiring an official letter of invitation in order to attend the meeting may write to the DAMOP 2010 conference administrator. This procedure is designed to assist participants who need to obtain a visa or permission to attend the meeting. The letter does not imply that registration fees or other expenses will be assumed by the meeting organizers. Address requests to:
Umbe Cantu
Conference Administrator
Rice University
Department of Physics and Astronomy
MS-108
Houston, TX 77005
Oral Sessions
There are six parallel oral sessions, which will run from 8:00 am to 12:30 pm and 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm, Wednesday-Friday and from 8:00 am to 12:30 PM on Saturday. There will be a break in the morning sessions from 10:00 am to 10:30 am and ample time for lunch from 12:30 pm to 2 pm. Note that poster sessions begin at 4:00 pm approximately when the oral sessions end.
Presenters in the oral sessions must report to their sessions 20 minutes prior to the start of the session to set up their talks. VGA switch boxes will be provided in each presentation room that allows each presenter to separately connect their own laptops to the projector. A backup copy of the presentation stored on a USB memory stick will enable multiple presenters in a session to share a single laptop. This needs to be arranged before the start of the session.
Special Undergraduate Research Session
A special undergraduate research session will once again be held at the DAMOP Annual Meeting. Six outstanding students will present their work on Thursday 27 May 2010. See detailed session information.
Poster Sessions
The Poster Sessions I, II, and III will be held in the Hyatt Regency Exhibit Hall (lower level) from 4:00pm to 6:00pm on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday respectively. Poster presenters are encouraged to put up their posters in the morning of the day the poster is presented and are asked to remove them by 6:30 pm the same day. The area provided for each poster is 4 foot high by 8 foot wide.
Vendor Exhibits
As in previous years, vendor exhibits will be set up near the poster sessions. The vendors this year include Lockheed Martin Aculight, New Journal of Physics, Journal of Physics B, Cold Quanta, Toptica, CVI Melles Griot, and Vescent Photonics, and Sacher Lasertechnik.
CAMOS BOOTH AT DAMOP-2010
The Board on Physics and Astronomy's Committee on Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics (CAMOS) will have a display booth at DAMOP 2010 in Houston. At recent meetings the Committee has had discussions and focus sessions on topics including Quantum Information Science, AMO Physics addressing issues related to Energy and the Environment, and research at the interface of AMO and Condensed Matter Physics. Recent publications will be available, including the AMO 2010 report, "Controlling the Quantum World." Please stop by to talk about the committee's past and current activities, and to share ideas for future discussions.
Special Events – Tuesday 25 May 2010
Graduate Student Symposium and Rice Lab Tours
The Graduate Student Symposium is being held on Tuesday 25 May 2010. Advanced registration is required and the fee is $50. A complimentary box lunch will be provided to all participants. The registration fee for this event must be received before April 30 and can be paid through the APS registration web site. There will be no onsite registration for the symposium.
The symposium celebrates the 50th anniversary of the invention of the laser. The program is designed to introduce students to modern technologies and applications of lasers. The talks span a wide range of topics including new techniques for diagnostics and treatment in life sciences, earth science, ultrafast, and ultra intense applications. This symposium will be held in Herzstein Hall room 210 on the campus of Rice University. The speakers this year are: Vanderlei Bagnato (Universidade Federal de São Carlos - Brasil), Zheng-Tian Lu (Argonne National Laboratory), Jun Ye (JILA), and Todd Ditmire (Univ. Texas-Austin).
Rice University AMO Lab Tours
Barry Dunning, Randy Hulet, and Tom Killian will host tours of their Rice University AMO Physics Labs after the graduate Student Symposium on Tuesday 25 May from 4 pm to 6 pm. The lab tours are open to all participants of the DAMOP/DAMPΦ meeting.
Welcome Reception
DAMOP/DAMPΦ 2010 welcome reception takes place in the Hyatt Regency Imperial East and Center Ballrooms at 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm Tuesday May 25.
Special Events – Wednesday 26 May 2010
Plenary Prize Session
The scientific program begins with the Plenary Prize Session at 8:00 am Wednesday May 26 in the Hyatt Regency’s Imperial Ballroom. The prize recipients this year are the Davisson-Germer Prize recipient, Chris Greene (JILA-University of Colorado), and the Will Allis Prize recipient, Mark Kushner (University of Michigan).
Public Lecture
A public lecture will be given by Prof. Gérard A. Mourou on Wednesday 26 May at 8:00 pm in the Hyatt Imperial Ballroom.
Gérard Mourou is a Professor at the Ecole Polytechnique and Director of the Institut de la Lumière Extrême at ENSTA, Palaiseau, France. He is also the A. D. Moore Distinguished University Emeritus Professor of the University of Michigan, Professor Mourou has made numerous important contributions in the field of ultrafast lasers, high-speed electronics as well as in medicine where he introduced the field femtosecond ophthalmology. However one of his most important contributions is the invention of the laser amplification technique known as Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA).
Title: Extreme Light Laser: Analyzing the texture of matter from the atom to vacuum
Abstract: On the eve of the laser's fiftieth anniversary, we cannot but marvel at the astounding progress accomplished since the first laser shot rang in the Hughes Research Laboratory in May 1960. The range of the laser applications is stupefying. At one extreme, it can be used to slow down the atoms to almost a complete stop in order to investigate its structure with meticulousness or make, ultra accurate clocks. At the other extreme, laser light can provide enormous electric fields capable of accelerating electrons from rest to close to the speed of light over only a fraction of a micrometer in a femtosecond, leading to extremely compact laser accelerator for material science, medical and environment applications. In the near future, the laser will produce pulses with peak power in the exawatt regime or hundred thousand times the world grid power during few femtoseconds. This laser called ELI for Extreme Light Infrastructure, is being designed and constructed in Europe. It will produce bursts of high energy particles and radiations in the attosecond and zeptosecond range and will be the gateway of a new laser-matter interaction regime: the ultra relativistic regime where not only electrons but ions are thrust to relativistic velocity. Finally, its intensity will be so large that it will be able to break down the vacuum into its fundamental elements and hence offering a new paradigm to analyze the texture of vacuum.
PRA/PRL Reception
The Physical Review A/Physical Review Letters "Meet the Editors" reception will be held at 3:30 pm Wednesday.
DAMOP Women Scientists Reception
The DAMOP Women Scientists reception will be held at 5:30 pm Wednesday.
Special Events – Thursday 27 May 2010
Conference Banquet
The conference banquet will be held Thursday 27 May 2010 at 6:30 pm in the Hyatt Regency’s Imperial Ballroom. One banquet ticket is included with the conference registration. Additional banquet tickets can be purchased for $50 in advance or at the meeting registration table in the Hyatt.
DAMOP/DAMP Φ 2010 Ancillary Event Schedule
As of 4 April 2010 from Randy Hulet (Rice U.)
Tuesday, May 25
- Graduate Student Symposium and Rice Lab Tours, 9:00-6:00 pm (Rice)
- DAMOP Executive Committee Meeting, 2:00-6:00 pm
- Welcome Reception, 5:30–8:00 pm
- TAMOC Business Meeting, 8:00-10:00 pm
Wednesday, May 26
- Physical Review Staff Lunch Meeting 11:30 am-1:30 pm
- Fellowship Committee Lunch Meeting 12:00-2:00 pm
- GPMFC Executive Committee Lunch Meeting 12:30-2:00 pm
- PRA/PRL Meet the Editors Reception, 3:30-5:30 pm
- GPMFC Business Meeting 5:00-7:00 pm
- DAMOP Women Scientists Reception 5:30-7:30 pm
- PRA/PRL Editorial Board Reception, 6:30-7:00 pm
- PRA Editorial Board Dinner Meeting, 7:00-10:00 pm
- PRL Divisional Associate Editors Dinner Meeting 7:00-10:00 pm
- Public Lecture 8:00-10:00 pm
Thursday, May 27
- Program Committee Lunch Meeting 12:00-2:00 pm
- Thesis Prize Committee Lunch Meeting 12:00-2:00 pm
- Undergraduate Research Luncheon 12:00-2:00 pm
Friday, May 28
- DAMOP Business Meeting, 4:30-6:00 pm
Saturday, May 29
- Teacher’s Day at DAMOP 8:00 am-3:00 pm