About AMO physics at Georgia Tech: the Georgia Tech AMO group is one of the largest in the country and features three other experimental groups in cold atoms (Alex Kuzmich and Chandra Raman), and ultrafast optics (Rick Trebino) as well as the theoretical groups of Li You, Brian Kennedy, Turgay Uzer and Ray Flannery. Altogether, this community includes 8 faculty, 1 research scientist, 4 postdocs and 35 graduate students and a sprinkling of undergraduates.
Georgia Tech is the#5 ranked engineering university and the #9 ranked public university in the United States (U.S. News & World Report). Seven of our graduate programs are ranked in the top 10 nationally; three are ranked in the top 5. Yahoo Internet Life Survey ranks Tech # 3 in its list of America's Most Wired Universities. Over 16,500 undergraduate and graduate students study in an exciting atmosphere of innovation and discovery fueled by $300 million/year in research grants.
About Atlanta: this gem of a city is the cultural, economic and educational center of the Southeast, which has been the fastest growing area in the country. Atlanta is consistently ranked as one of the most desirable cities in the country and is the best city in the country for doing business according to Inc. magazine. It is an affordable city both in-town and in the suburbs, and it offers some of the finest dining and nightlife in the country. Air travel to and from Atlanta is particular convenient due to the many flights (Atlanta's airport is the busiest in the world) and a flexible ticket purchasing plan between Delta Airlines and Georgia Tech, which, for example, allows group members to purchase inexpensive tickets with no advance notice.