Conference I: Photons, Lasers and Quantum Statistics

Plenary Speakers
C. Bennett, IBM Labs, Yorktown Heights (USA)
R. Brinkmann, DESY, Hamburg (D)
R. Blatt, Universität Innsbruck (A)
T. C. Chiang, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA)
R. Claessen, Universität Augsburg (D)
R. Doerner, Universität Frankfurt (D)
R. Grimm, Universität Innsbruck (A)
W. Kuch, Max-Planck Institut für Mikrostrukturphysik, Halle (D)
H. Katori, University of Tokyo (J)
Z.-X. Shen, Stanford University (USA)
S. Stringari, Università di Trento (I)
S. Svanberg, University of Lund (S)

Symposium PP Photo-electron Spectroscopy
In recent years, the spectroscopic exploitation of the photo-electric effect has produced a wealth of detailed information about electronic energy levels and elementary excitations in atoms, molecules and condensed matter. New territory in energy, momentum, spin and temporal resolution could be explored due to the advent of new photon sources (synchrotron radiation, femtosecond pulsed lasers) and due to technical advances in spectrometer technology and spin polarimetry. The Symposium will reflect the latest developments and illustrate their current and future impact condensed matter atomic and molecular physics.

Chairs
K. Horn, Fritz Haber Institut, Berlin (D)
J. Osterwalder, Universität Zürich (CH)

Members
E.E.B. Campbell, Göteborg University and Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg (S)
M.N. Piancastelli, Università di Roma (I)

Invited Speakers
M.C. Asensio, LURE, Orsay (F)
C. Bordas ,CNRS and Université Claude Bernard Lyon-I (F)
N. Brookes, ESRF, Grenoble (F)
M. Drescher, Universität Bielefeld (D)
T. Greber, Universität Zürich (CH)
D. Lindle, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (USA)
M. Wolf, Freie Universität Berlin (D)

Symposium PC Cold Atoms and Molecules
The meeting will cover major advances in the field of atom optics, degenerate quantum gases and Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC). A variety of BEC atomic assemblies particularly interesting and useful for the study of macroscopic quantum effects will be considered. Attention will be given to novel methods for laser cooling and trapping, together with techniques to manipulate and control BEC. Great attention will be devoted to so called second-generation cooling processes to achieve comparable control over molecules. Laser cooling, precision measurement, molecular beams, and molecular spectroscopy are the ingredient to achieve control at the quantum level over all the degrees of freedom of a molecule, both internal and external. Recent progress in this field will be a major topic. Finally, applications to high-precision measurements will be also considered.

Chairs
W. Ertmer, Universität Hannover (D)
F. Masnou, CNRS, Orsay (F)

Members
M. Inguscio, Università di Firenze (I)
N.J. Mason, The Open University, Milton Keynes (UK)

Symposium PQ Quantum Information
Quantum optics is a highly fertile research field for the future information technologies. The leading trend of current research is to use quantum mechanical effects to reach goals that cannot be achieved classically, such as perfectly secure cryptographic communications and highly efficient quantum parallel computation. The meeting will cover the main issues of these new, fast developing fields. Emphasis will be given on experimental achievements in the optical domain, and on all theoretical approaches relevant for quantum information. On the quantum processing side, attention will be focused on quantum error correction and fault-tolerant quantum computation, and on experimental implementations of quantum gates. The related fields of cloning, teleportation, and entanglement purification will be an integral part of this symposium.

Chairs
G.G. Björk, Royal Institute of Technology, Kista (S)
E. Hinds, Imperial College, London (UK)

Member
V. Buzek, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Physics, Bratislava (SK)

Symposium PF Facility-based Light Sources and Applications
This symposium is organised to reflect the exciting future that is opening up with the advent of ever more powerful and bright laser and synchrotron light sources, with unique characteristics (very short pulses and transverse and longitudinal coherence), over a broad wavelength range. The program is designed to highlight the latest developments and the emerging fields of applications that will make this century just as scientifically exciting as the last one, coming as it did on the heels of the great papers published by Einstein 100 years ago.

Chair
L. Rivkin, Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen (CH)

Members
E.I. Lindau, Lund University (S)
W. Sandner, Max-Born Institut, Berlin (D)

Invited Speakers
H. Dosch, MPI für Metallforschung, Stuttgart (D)
J. Hajdu, Uppsala University (S)