Annuntio Vobis Gaudium Magnum: Habemus Chairs
Kathryn Hamilton, a new assistant professor at the University of Colorado Denver, and Kaden Hazzard, associate professor at Rice University, have been elected at unanimity new chairs of TAMOC, on the occasion of our business meeting, today, May 31, 2022. Kathryn Hamilton's speciality is the theory of the electronic continuum structure of atoms, and its numerical implementation to simulate photoelectron and attosecond spectroscopies. Kaden Hazzard's research, instead, focusses on ultracold atomic systems, quantum simulations of many-body interactions, and their application to quantum metrology and quantum computation. The two new chairs, therefore, have complementary skills that cover a broad range of TAMOC members' interests. We are delighted they accepted to serve, and wish them the best of luck in their new role!
Luca Argenti and Anh-Thu Le, TAMOC co-chairs, 2020-2022
University of Colorado Denver
Rice University
TAMOC Business Meeting
Tuesday, May 31st 2022, from 5:00pm to 7:00pm EDT.
To take place both in person and online DAMOP. We encourage comments from the audience.
1) Memorial for Don Madison, University of Missouri Rolla
· Tim Gay: University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
2) The new TAMOC Website
· Luca Argenti: University of Central Florida.
3) Communications to TAMOC from Federal Program Managers
· Thomas Settersten: The DOE BES AMO program (remote)
· Robert Forrey: The NSF atomic theory program
· James Joseph: ARO – Quantum Information Science, Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optical Physics and Fields
4) Communications to TAMOC from center directors / deputy directors
· Hossein Sadeghpour: Institute for Theoretical Atomic and Molecular Physics (ITAMP)
· Artem Rudenko: J. R. Macdonald Laboratory (JRML)
· Ivan Deutsch: Center for Quantum Information and Control (CQuiC)
5) On the development of community codes
· Barry Schneider: A Science Gateway for AMO Physics (NIST) (remote)
6) Election of new chairs
· The two current chairs are at the end of their two-year term of service. We welcome volunteer to take on the task.
7) Announcements
· Events, upcoming meetings, career opportunities (Can be scheduled at short notice. Contact the TAMOC chairs in advance or simply speak up at the meeting.)
We look forward to seeing you in person and online!
Luca Argenti and Anh-Thu Le, TAMOC co-chairs
With deep sadness, we inform the scientific community that Don Madison, Curator's Professor at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, passed away on May 14, 2022.
Don Harvey Madison was born in Pierre, South Dakota, on January 4, 1945. He married Lina Engel in 1966. The couple has two children, Lisa and Kristina, as well as six grandchildren. After graduating summa cum laude with a B.S. degree in mathematics from Sioux Falls College in 1967, Don was advised to study physics instead of mathematics and obtained his M.S. degree in 1970 and his Ph.D. degree in 1972, both from Florida State University under the supervision of W.N. Shelton. His Ph.D. thesis, entitled "The Distorted-Wave Theory and its Application to the Excitation of the 1P states of Helium and Mercury", was the start of a highly successful career in the development of the distorted-wave approach for electron collisions with atoms and later molecules. After a two-year stay as a post-doctoral researcher with Eugen Merzbacher at the University of North Carolina, Don was appointed Assistant Professor of Physics at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1974. He was named the Levitt Distinguished Professor of Physics in 1984. Don was highly respected at Drake, where he received several awards for both his outstanding research and teaching, including the "Centennial Scholar Award" in 1981 and the "Liberal Arts Teacher of the Year in the Sciences Award" in 1983.
Don was a highly sought-after collaborator, especially by experimental colleagues who liked to compare their measurements with his theoretical results. They often asked for guidance regarding future investigations by using his predictions of where the most interesting physics might be found in the vast parameter space of targets, collision energies, and angular ranges. During one of his frequent visits to other institutions, he met Klaus Bartschat at the University of Münster in Germany. They immediately became good friends and life-long collaborators. Don left Drake after a sabbatical tour "around the world" to join the University of Missouri at Rolla in 1988. The position he vacated at Drake went to Klaus.
After moving to Rolla, Don immediately started to establish new collaborations, in particular with Tim Gay and later Michael Schulz. With Tim he continued his work on electron-atom scattering, while he (re)started his studies of ion-atom collisions with Michael. Don also realized early on the importance of expanding his work from atomic to molecular targets, and thus generalized his codes to handle these more complicated scattering problems. He also expanded his efforts from excitation to the much more challenging ionization processes. Together with many students, who greatly benefitted from his guidance and nearly infinite patience, Don developed sophisticated formulations and computer codes to extend the distorted-wave framework of atomic collisions for which he was widely recognized as the world's expert. Not surprisingly, Don also received many honors at Rolla, including multiple "Faculty Excellence" and "Outstanding Professor" awards. In 1998, he was named Curator's Professor of Physics.
Don was awarded Fellowship in the American Physical Society in 1992 for "pioneering work in the calculation of cross sections, spin polarizations, and angular correlation parameters for atomic excitation and ionization by simple charges particles." He published 287 papers in highly-regarded peer-reviewed journals, gave 130 invited talks, made countless other contributions to international conferences, and was a sought-after speaker at colloquia and seminars at institutions around the world. In 2018, he was honored as the Convocation Speaker at Sir Padampat Singhania University in India.
In addition to being an excellent physicist, Don also served the scientific community with great distinction. For many years, he was the Director of the Laboratory for Atomic, Molecular and Optical Research (LAMOR) at Rolla. He organized the 2001 ICPEAC satellite meeting on "Polarization and Correlation" in Rolla. From 1994–1998, Don was chair of TAMOC (Theoretical Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Community, a subgroup of the Division of Atomic and Molecular Physics (DAMOP) of the American Physical Society). He served as treasurer of the Gaseous Electronic Conference from 2002–2006 and helped organizing many other conferences. Don was also a tireless advocate for physics education at all levels. He was instrumental in establishing a special session on "Outstanding Undergraduate Research in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics" in 1994, a competition that is still being held at the annual DAMOP meetings.
Most importantly, Don was a humble man, who made the world a better place. He served on and chaired the Board of Directors of the Russell House for battered women and raised thousands of dollars for them. Don also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors for LOVE, a local organization to help people in need. He was active in the Episcopal Church, serving on the Vestry and also as its treasurer for many years.
Don will be sadly missed by his family and his many friends and colleagues.
Klaus Bartschat
Levitt Professor of Physics, Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa (USA)
Timothy J. Gay
Cather Professor of Physics, University of Nebraska at Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska (USA)
Congratulations to Anne L'Huillier, Paul Corkum, and Ferenc Krausz, who have been awarded the 2022 Wolf Prize in Physics
"for pioneering and novel work in the fields of ultrafast laser science and attosecond physics and for demonstrating time-resolved imaging of electron motion in atoms, molecules, and solids. Each of them made crucial contributions, both to the technical development of attosecond physics and to its application to fundamental physics studies."
ATTO VIII (Orlando, July 11-15, 2022): The online abstract submission system is now open. Submitted abstracts based on original work related to the conference topics will be considered for oral and poster presentations. The deadline for submissions is February 11, 2022 at 11:59 Eastern Time (UTC-5:00).
Special Issue "A Tribute to Oleg Zatsarinny (1953–2021)" on "Atoms" Deadline extended. FINAL DEADLINE Jan 24, 2022: [publication fees are waived]
This Special Issue is dedicated to the memory of Oleg Zatsarinny and his many contributions to the science of atomic structure, collisions, and other continuum processes occurring in atomic molecular, and optical (AMO) physics. The articles highlight the contributions Oleg has made to our understanding of AMO physics and the impact the methods he developed already have had and certainly will continue to have on future developments, both in fundamental science and the many applications of AMO physics. The latter include the modelling of energy transport in plasmas and astrophysical objects, as well as light-matter interactions, including short-pulse, intense laser physics. Also included is a collection of short testimonies from friends and colleagues that summarize the impact Oleg has had on their life.