Optically Polarized Atoms

`Many modern atomic physics experiments use subtle effects of atom-light interactions, be they the destructive interference associated with coherent superpositons, or the dynamics of optical pumping, or alignment to orientation conversion. Having such topics discussed in a coherent theoretical framework provides an excellent resource.‘Ifan Hughes, Durham University

Marcis Auzinsh is the Rector of the University of Latvia, where he was previously Chairman of the Senate, Dean of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, and Head of Center of Excellence for Basic Research in Nanoscale Physics and Application. He has held visiting positions at universities around the world, and is a Member of Executive Commitee of the European Physical Society.

Dmitry Budker took his PhD at the University of California at Berkeley, where he won the 1994 American Physical Society Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Research in Atomic, Molecular, or Optical Physics. He is now a Professor of Physics there. In 2005 he was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and in 2009 became a American Physical Society Outstanding Referee.

Simon M. Rochester is a Graduate Student Researcher at the University of California at Berkeley, where he holds a NASA Earth System Science Fellowship.