With the on-going search for an experimental atomic physics faculty at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), I would like to provide a historical perspective on strong traditions of atomic physics at UNR.
The early history of atomic physics at UNR is succinctly captured by Hulse, Goodall and Allen in their book "Reinventing The System: Higher Education In Nevada, 1968-2000".
"The physics faculty began building a solid record in atomic and molecular physics in the 1960s and improved on this foundation into the 1990s; Philip Altick, trained at Stanford and Berkeley, was an academic leader in this field for three decades and is recognized for initiating the department's high research standards. Colleagues Peter Winkler and Reinhard Bruch were attracted to UNR from Germany partly because of the important theoretical work under way here. Ron Phaneuf, department chair through most of the 1990s, was credited with advances in the program during that decade."
While Ron served as Department Chair, he established a program to study photoionization of ions at the Advanced Light Source in Berkeley. During that same period the UNR AMO program also grew. Faculty hires included Rami Ali, a recognized expert in experimental atomic collisions. After spending several years at UNR, Rami accepted an academic post in his native Jordan. Paul Neill collaborated on electron beam ion trap physics at Lawrence Livermore National Labotratory. Jeff Thompson has made important progress in measuring properties of negative ions and maintains that research program while serving as the Dean of College of Science at UNR.
Following Philip Altick’s retirement, a theorist, Andrei Derevianko, was hired. Andrei's interests are broad but primarily are in atomic clocks and in connecting atomic physics with particle and nuclear physics. Meanwhile, the entire field of AMO physics was being reshaped by advances in ultracold atom physics. Jonathan Weinstein was hired to expand in this important frontier. Jonathan uses cryogenically-cooled atoms and molecules to study cold collisions, cold chemistry, and quantum information. The most recent addition to the AMO program is Andrew Geraci. Andrew's experiments are in the rapidly growing fields of optomechanics, quantum precision sensors, and hybrid quantum systems.