The 1st morning session of the school went quite well. There were talks by Jun Ye (JILA) on control of light; how ultrafast laser pulses could be used to produce ultrastable frequency combs, and how different frequency scales, from UVU could be referenced to IR, a preview for his 2nd lecture tomorrow on controlling atomic matter with light. The 2nd talk was given by Pierre Meystre (replacing Mette Gaarde who could not be here) on cooling of optomechanical systems. This emerging subject of inquiry in AMO sciences has mushroomed over the last few years b/c a number of groups have succeeded in bringing the center of mass motion of nearly macroscopic objects to the quantum ground level. Pierre described what could be investigated with ground state objects, ala beyond ground state cooling.
The afternoon talks are now being given by Ivan Deutsch (UNM) and Han Pu (Rice). Han is giving a rigorous account of theory of laser cooling.
The students appear enthusiastic and engage the faculty with questions. The settings are beautiful- the mornings are quite and a bit chilly, and warming day hours which follow. The accommodations are first rate and comfortable.
