Institute for Theoretical Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics between AMO theory and experiment and promoting AMO theory within the general physics community. 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. The Institute is sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, the Center for Astrophysics and Harvard University. The Armstrong Report in 1987 on "The State of Theoretical Atomic, Molecular and Optical Sciences in the United
Branches of physics This theory is currently under developmental stage. Optics is the study of light, and the instruments created to use or detect it (i.e. telescopes, spectrometers, etc.). Atomic physics, molecular physics, and optical physics are each individual sub-fields of AMO that study the physical properties of the atom, molecules, and light, respectively. The study of the physical properties of matter in a condensed phase. Particle physics studies the nature of particles, while nuclear physics studies the atomic nuclei. Cosmology studies how the universe came to be, and its eventual fate. It is studied by physicists and astrophysicists. To the interdisciplinary fields,