Proposal for the International Workshop on Ultracold Rydberg Physics Nov. 28 - Dec. 1, 2010 in Recife, Brazil

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This workshop, to be held in Recife, Brazil, is aimed at understanding the many facets of Rydberg atom systems at ultracold temperatures (T 1 mK). Samples of ultracold Rydberg atoms have only recently been created using laser cooling and trapping techniques. This advance has lead to a renaissance in the study of Rydberg atoms. There have been many exciting breakthroughs made in research on ultracold Rydberg gases recently, such as the progress towards making quantum gates, the observations of new and exotic types of molecules, the investigation of plasmas at T ~ 1 mK, production and trapping of anti-hydrogen and the study of many-body dynamics. Of central interest is controlling the interactions between Rydberg atoms so that they may be engineered to make new devices based on quantum entanglement or used to investigate phenomena that can be better understood by taking advantage of this control. The broader impacts are that senior scientists, junior scientists, pos-docs and graduate students from a wide range of backgrounds will present their work and share ideas on the future of the field. To date, ultracold Rydberg atom physics has been largely confined to the United States and Europe, where large conferences have addressed this field and several workshops have taken place over the last 5 years. This workshop is aimed at expanding the field to more research groups, particularly in Brazil and, in the larger picture, other South American countries. With this goal in mind, several review talks will stress the main achievements and current scientific challenges in this field in order to ensure a more equal starting point for all the workshop participants. By bringing new researchers and those experienced in this field together, this will encourage the emergence of new ideas, new collaborations, and a more vibrant and active research field. It is important that new students and new researchers in this field are able to interact with those who are more experienced so that the field can grow in new directions without having to 'rediscover' old ground.