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

本次研讨会将在巴西累西腓举行，旨在了解在超冷温度（t1 mK）下里德伯原子系统的许多方面。直到最近，人们才利用激光冷却和俘获技术制造出了超冷里德伯原子的样品。这一进展导致了里德伯原子研究的复兴。近年来，超冷里德伯气体的研究取得了许多令人兴奋的突破，如量子门的制造、新分子和外来分子的观察、T ~ 1mk等离子体的研究、反氢的产生和俘获以及多体动力学的研究等。核心兴趣是控制里德伯原子之间的相互作用，这样它们就可以被设计成基于量子纠缠的新设备，或者用来研究利用这种控制可以更好地理解的现象。更广泛的影响是，来自不同背景的高级科学家、初级科学家、博士后和研究生将展示他们的工作，并就该领域的未来分享想法。迄今为止，超冷里德伯原子物理学在很大程度上局限于美国和欧洲，在过去的5年里，这些地方已经举行了关于这个领域的大型会议和几次研讨会。这次讲习班的目的是将这一领域扩大到更多的研究小组，特别是在巴西，从更大的角度来看，也包括其他南美国家。考虑到这一目标，几次审查会谈将强调这一领域的主要成就和当前的科学挑战，以确保所有讲习班参与者有一个更平等的起点。通过将新研究人员和在该领域有经验的研究人员聚集在一起，这将鼓励新想法的出现，新的合作，以及一个更有活力和活跃的研究领域。重要的是，该领域的新学生和新研究人员能够与那些更有经验的人互动，这样该领域就可以朝着新的方向发展，而不必“重新发现”旧领域。

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.