The traditional view of quantum mechanics as restricting what can be done classically has been turned upside down by quantum information science, which explores how coherent quantum-mechanical information processing can be used to accomplish tasks that would be impossible in a classical world. Implementing quantum information processing protocols promises to be one of the enduring scientific and technological challenges of the 21st Century. I will focus on quantum computation: why it's important, what is required to make it work, and how it might be implemented in a variety of physical systems.

Electron wave packets formed by atomic or molecular tunnel ionization and controlled by strong laser fields create attosecond electron and optical pulses. Electrons formed by attosecond optical pulses, deflected by a strong laser field, measure the optical pulse duration. I will describe the technology and review the first attosecond dynamics experiments

We will discuss the physics of atomic quantum gases. Topics to be addressed include the effect of interactions in ultracold atomic gases (both bosons and fermions), how scattering lengths are measured, and how they can be modified using Feshbach resonances. The experimental techniques of laser cooling, evaporative cooling, and optical and magnetic trapping will be examined.