Institute for Theoretical Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics

The Institute for Theoretical Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (ITAMP) is an international scientific learned society based at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

It was established in 1988 to alleviate a perceived shortage of theorists in atomic, molecular, and optical physics (AMO) at major universities throughout America.

It has been involved in some capacity in most of the National Research Council target areas, i.e. precision measurements and tests of fundamental laws, ultracold physics, the development and application of ultra-intense, short wavelength light sources, ultra-fast quantum control of atoms, molecules and electrons, nanoscience, and quantum information science.

ITAMP, originally the Institute for Theoretical Atomic and Molecular Physics was set up in 1988 at Harvard University under its first director Alexander Dalgarno to fulfil that need.

The name was changed in 2002 to the Institute for Theoretical Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics although the established ITAMP acronym remained unchanged.