JPhysB Review Roundup

By Thomas Farrell on May 15, 2015

Topical reviews and tutorials are ideal tools for anyone wanting a summary of a research area, or to introduce newcomers to a new field. I give a quick summary of the topical reviews and tutorials published in JPhysB this year.

Topical Reviews

Our topical reviews are designed to give authoritative, up-to-date overviews of hot topics in the fields of atomic, molecular and optical physics. Written by leading figures in the area they are great summary of the research in a given field which are perfect for readers moving into a new area or anyone looking for an overview of a research area.

Biology-inspired AMO physics

In this fascinating review, Deepak Mathur at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research covers some of the ways in which atomic, molecular and optical (AMO) physics can intersect with life sciences. For example, optical trapping is being used to trap individual cells to examine how diseased and healthy cells differ. Elsewhere, AMO physics principles are used in 4D fluorescence microscopy for studying the dynamics of cellular processes, and strong field science topics such as filamentation and supercontinuum generation can be used to examine DNA damage. Read the full review here: Deepak Mathur 2015 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 48 022001

Interatomic and intermolecular Coulombic decay: the coming of age story

Interatomic Coulombic Decay (ICD), in which an excited atom or molecule decays by transferring energy to its neighbour, ionizing it in the process, was once thought to be an exotic process that only occured in certain systems. As T Jahnke (Institut für Kernphysik, Frankfurt) explains in this topical review, the system is actually common and studied in a number of experiments. Read the full review here: T Jahnke 2015 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 48 082001

Tutorials

Tutorials are designed to guide newcomers into rapidly developing fields where textbooks are still missing. They allow interested researchers from more distant fields to gain an insight into the topic under review. The tutorials are generally based on an excellent PhD thesis or an outstanding lecture series at a graduate winter/summer school.

Oscillating molecular dipoles require strongly correlated electronic and nuclear motion

In modern physical chemistry, creating molecules with specific properties is a hot topic. The electronic dipole is one such property that scientists in the feel are looking to control to study, for example, chemical reactivity. In this tutorial, Bo Y Chang et al. show theoretically how to create and control the molecular dipole of the molecular hydrogen ion H₂⁺. Read the full tutorial here: Bo Y Chang et al 2015 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 48 043001

Quantum computing with photons: introduction to the circuit model, the one-way quantum computer, and the fundamental principles of photonic experiments

Quantum computing is vitally important to the future of computing, and by extension almost every area of modern life. Information processing with photons is key to this. In this tutorial Stefanie Barz reviews the basics of theoretical quantum computing, quantum circuits and quantum measurement schemes. Also covered is the possible experimental implementation of these ideas. You might also recognize one of the figures (right) as a recent Image of the Week here on JPhys+! Read the full tutorial here: Stefanie Barz 2015 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 48 083001

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

Image 1 and front image: Differential interference contrast image of an infected RBC stained with a dye (DAPI), adapted from Deepak Mathur 2015 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 48 022001.

Image 2: The kinetic energy of the ionic fragments in dependence of the electron energy, adapted from K Kreidi et. al. 2008 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 41 101002

Image 3: Long time behavior of the expectation value of the electron position and the right proton position, adapted from Bo Y Chang et al 2015 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 48 043001.

Image 4: Measurement pattern on a cluster state, adapted from Stefanie Barz 2015 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 48 083001.