EQEC 2005 Conference Topics

EA) Physics of Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Amplifiers
Dynamics and noise in semiconductor lasers (SLs) and optical amplifiers. Nonlinear dynamics: optical feedback, mode locking, spatial and temporal instabilities, multimode dynamics, noise properties under large signal modulation or amplification. Quantum confined structures for SLs and SOAs: band gap engineering, quantum cascade lasers, quantum dots/dashes, new materials, carrier and gain dynamics. Nano-photonics and SLs: VCSELs, photonic crystal lasers, micro-cavity lasers. SLs and SOAs for optical signal processing: ?-conversion, switching, clock recovery, short pulse generation.
Chair: Bjarne Tromborg, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark

EB) Nonlinear Optics
Fundamentals of nonlinear optics. Frequency conversion, parametric processes and wave-mixing. Light-matter interactions including ultra-high intensity processes. Novel nonlinear optical materials, processes and effects. Solitons: temporal and spatial, Bragg and gap, propagation and cavity. Multi-level atomic coherence: EIT, LWI, slow light and dark states. Nonlinear resonators, microcavities and nonlinear waveguiding. Photonic bandgaps, nonlinear nano, micro and periodic structures.
Chair: Gian-Luca Oppo, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom

EC) Dynamics, Instabilities and Patterns
Pattern forming optical systems: localized and extended structures; novel optical systems for non linear dynamics such as quantum dot lasers, hybrid devices, microlasers, fiber lasers; dynamics of nonlinear optical systems such as lasers, OPOs, optical valves; instabilities in semiconductor lasers: injected signal, optical feedback, multimode dynamics; control, synchronisation and applications of chaos in optical systems.
Chair: Pierre Glorieux, Univ. Sciences et Technologies, Villeneuve d’Ascq, France

ED) Ultrafast Phenomena
Fundamentals of ultrashort optical fields; sub-10-fs real-time spectroscopy; control of chemical reactions; ultrafast spectroscopy of single molecules; ultrafast spatio-temporal dynamics in condensed matter; optical tomography.
Chair: Mauro Nisoli, Politecnico di Milano, Italy

EE) Laser Spectroscopy
Novel concepts in laser spectroscopy; high resolution and high sensitivity spectroscopy; nonlinear spectroscopy; applications to metrology, both cw and ultrashort pulse; novel frequency standards; applications to fundamental measurements.
Chair: Dieter Meschede, University of Bonn, Germany

EF) Cold Atoms and Molecules
Bose-Einstein condensation and Fermi degeneracy; trapping in confined geometries -- in optical lattices, on a chip; mixtures of ultracold gases -- interactions, quantum collisions, from atoms to molecules; cold molecules -- production methods, manipulating molecular motion, trapping schemes; ultracold polar molecules, ultracold large (bio-) molecules, ultracold chemistry; applications -- metrology, precision measurements, testing of fundamental symmetries.
Chair: Gerard Meijer, Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin, Germany

EG) Quantum Optics
Photons in confined structures and cavity QED; quantum correlation and quantum noise reduction; entangled states and decoherence; single photon and nonclassical light sources and applications; QND measurements; quantum imaging, quantum metrology and quantum lithography.
Chair : Luigi Lugiato, Università dell’Insubria, Como, Italy

EH) Quantum Information
Research in Quantum Information spans from efforts to understand fundamental properties of quantum physics and complex systems to state-of-the-art experimental control of microscopic physical systems and technological implementation of quantum phenomena in data communication and processing. The wide range of research approaches and interests will be reflected in the programme, which will present a general overview of the status of the field and some of the most active directions of theoretical and experimental research at the time of the conference.
Chair: Klaus Moelmer, University of Aarhus, Denmark

EI) Nano-Photonics
Surface plasmons; molecules and quantum dots; nanoparticles; photonic crystals; negative index and left handed materials; nonlinear and ultrafast phenomena; nano-photonics at non-optical frequencies; tip enhanced microscopy; advances in instrumentation; nano-photonic applications; theory and modelling.
Chair: Joachim Krenn, Karl-Franzens-University, Graz, Austria

EJ) Microcavities
Optical microcavities attract attention in fundamental and applied research. Reducing the size, increasing Q or applying special structures with broken symmetry give rise to singular features and to a large class of topics as nonlinear processes, spatial pattern formation, polaritons and excitons. New experiments are possible thanks to the increased capability to fabricate nanometer-scaled structures and to perform measurements with high wavelength and time resolution. In addition theoretical work has led to a deeper understanding of the underlying phenomena associated to the nanoscale structures. The sessions on microcavities will present an overview of these developments. Contributions are solicited that emphasize the microcavity aspects. A non-exhaustive list of possible topics includes: physics of high-Q microcavities; microcavity QED; chaos and spatial patterns in microcavities; disorder; temporal behaviour; semiconductor microcavities; polaritons; excitons and other quasiparticles and entangled states; optical storage in microcavities.
Chair: Alfred Driessen, University of Twente, The Netherlands