COMS

The conference covers a broad range of topics with a particular emphasis on spectral line shape studies including line shapes of atomic and molecular transitions in neutral gaseous mixtures, high and low temperature plasmas, clusters and helium droplets, spectroscopy of stellar atmospheres and interstellar media, cold atoms and molecules, collision-induced spectra, processes in laser fields and innovative techniques of line shape applications for diagnostic purposes.

The Conference includes invited lectures, contributed talks, poster presentations, and round table discussions. Sessions is held in the historical building of St.Petersburg State University in the city centre.

Adiabatic processes are ubiquitous in cold atom physics, nuclear magnetic resonance, optics and other fields. They are very useful to prepare states robustly versus perturbations but, in many cases they take too long and may become impractical. This has prompted a surge of theoretical and experimental activity to speed them up and find shortcuts to adiabaticity. Some of the applications are trap expansions an contractions, transport (e. g. for quantum information processing), internal state engineering and population transfer (as in NMR), quantum adiabatic computing, BEC manipulations (such as splitting), or microscopy of quantum correlations. Techniques based on Lewis-Riesenfeld invariants, optimal control theory, counter-diabatic or transitionless driving approaches, fast-forward scaling, and composite adiabatic passage (CAP) have been used or proposed. Related relevant concepts are superadiabaticity or the quantum brachistochrone. Fundamental implications on quantifying the third principle and quantum-speed limits are also being explored.

This work is emerging as a new transversal field of Atomic, Molecular and Optical (AMO) Science with a potential impact in many branches of Physics, Chemistry and technology. The STA workshop will gather for the first time researchers active in the field and other interested participants.

Topics covered in this GRC include high-resolution spectroscopy, coherent electronic energy transport in biology, excited state theory and dynamics, excitonics, electronic spectroscopy of cold and ultracold molecules, and the spectroscopy of nanostructures. Several sessions will highlight innovative techniques such as time-resolved x-ray spectroscopy, frequency combs, and liquid microjet photoelectron spectroscopy that have forged stimulating new connections between gas-phase and condensed-phase work.

Active participation of postdoctoral researchers and graduate students is strongly encouraged.