This important proceedings volume highlights the major scientific achievement of the last decade in atomic physics, namely the creation of the gaseous Bose-Einstein condensate, which was featured prominently at the XVIII International Conference on Atomic Physics (ICAP2002). Two recipients of the 2001 Nobel Prize delivered lectures at the meeting. Among the topics discussed were novel processes leading to degenerate Fermi gases in atom traps, creation of cold molecules, condensates in optical lattices, atoms in intense fields, tests of fundamental symmetries, quantum control and information, time and frequency standards.

Atomic Physics 15 extends the series of books containing the invited papers presented at each International Conference on Atomic Physics (ICAP). The ICAP, held every two years, provides the atomic physics community with an opportunity to review problems of current interest and to consider future directions in the field. This fifteenth meeting also celebrated the centenary of the discovery of the Zeeman effect. Contents:Generation of a “Schrödinger Cat” of Radiation and Observation of Its Decoherence (S Haroche et al)Synthesis of Entangled States and Quantum Computing (J I Cirac et al)Entangled States of Atomic Ions for Quantum Metrology and Computation (D J Wineland et al)Entanglement and Indistinguishability: Coherence Experiments with Photon Pairs and Triplets (A Zeilinger)Atom Optics as a Testing Ground for Quantum Chaos (C F Bharucha et al)Coherent Ultra-Bright XUV Lasers and Harmonics (J S Wark et al)The Creation and Study of Bose–Einstein Condensation in a Cold Alkali Vapor (C E Wieman et al)Doppler-Free Spectroscopy of Trapped Atomic Hydrogen (T C Killian et al)Towards Coherent Atomic Samples Using Laser Cooling (J Dalibard)Zeeman's Great Discovery (P F A Klinkenberg)The Zeeman Effect: A Tool for Atom Manipulation (C Cohen-Tannoudji)QED Effects in Few-Electron High-Z Systems (I Lindgren et al)Fundamental Constants of Nature (L B Okun)Quantum Decoherence and Inertial Sensing with Atom Interferometers (D E Pritchard et al)and other papers Readership: Condensed matter physicists. keywords:Atomic;Physics;ICAP;Zeeman;Quantum Computing;Entanglement;Condensation;Trap;Decoherence;Interferometer

The Fifth International Conference on Atomic Physics was held July 26-30, 1976 in Berkeley, California. Invited talks were solicited which were representative of the most important developments since the fourth conference held in Heidelberg, Germany in 1974. In this volume, we have collected the manuscripts of the invited speakers, in the belief that they represent a guide to contemporary re search in atomic physics. Experimental work on such topics as the search for parity violation, spectroscopy and collision processes of fast, highly-stripped heavy ions, exotic atoms, high-Rydberg states, laser spectros copy, photoelectron spectroscopy, and others are described. The work described in these manuscripts is a clear mea sure of the continued vitality of our field. One unhappy event since the last conference was the passing of Dr. Victor William (Bill) Cohen (1911-1974) of Brookhaven National Laboratory. Bill was one of the scientists who recognized early the need for personal communication among atomic physicists and was the prime mover in establishing the present international conference series. Everyone who has enjoyed the stimulation of these conferences is indebted to Bill Cohen, and we dedicate this volume of the proceedings to his memory.