Preface

Abstract

The 31st International Conference on Photonic, Electronic and Atomic Collisions (XXXI ICPEAC) was held in the region of Normandy, France, starting with the tutorials at the University of Caen Normandie on July 23, 2019, and followed by the main conference on July 24-30, 2019 at the Deauville International Conference Centre. Held biannually, ICPEAC is one of the largest conferences on the atomic and molecular physics calendar, and covers the recent progress in photonic, electronic, and atomic collisions with matter. With a history dating back to 1958, the ICPEAC has its second coming to France, the first of which being the 1977 edition in Paris. The organization of ICPEAC 2019, the tutorials, and some of the satellite meetings involved 15 French institutes belonging to CNRS and various universities or institutions, and located all over the country. With the selection of France as the ICPEAC XXXI venue the local organizers began their preparations six years ahead in anticipation of the event.The conference brought together 615 participants from 43 countries with 32% of young researchers (PhD students or doctors who defended their PhD less than 4 years ago) and 28% of female scientists.ICPEAC XXXI aroused the submission of 808 abstracts among which 41% were submitted by young scientists. In April 2019, the ICPEAC General Committee has reviewed 761 Regular s submitted before 10 March 2019 and has selected “hot topics” as Special Reports. The Local Organizing Committee has examined 47 post-deadline abstracts submitted before 15 June, 2019. The Scientific Conference Program included 749 abstracts that were scheduled for presentation in one of the five poster sessions organized according to 18 different topics representing the main fields of ICPEAC 2019. The full poster list is published in the Conference Handbook available on line and was distributed in printed form to the participants. Among these abstracts, 469 are presented in issues 6-23 of this volume of the Journal of Physics Conference Series.In addition, five plenary lectures by Joachim Burgdörfer (Institute of Theoretical Physics, TU-Wien, Austria), Klaus Bartschat (Drake University, USA), Christoph Bostedt (Paul Scherrer Institute & Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland), Astrid Bergeat (Institut des Sciences Moléculaires, University of Bordeaux, France), and Hidetoshi Katori (RIKEN & University of Tokyo, Japan) have been presented along with 62 progress reports and 28 special reports. Detailed write-ups of some of the invited lectures and reports are presented in issues 1-5 of this volume, constituting a tangible record of the meeting.Preceding the main conference, three distinguished scientists, Gordon Drake (University of Windsor, Canada), Anne L’Huillier (Lund Attosecond Science Center, LTH, Sweden) and Thomas Stöhlker (Helmholtz Institute Jena, Germany) gave tutorial lectures specifically designed for students and early-career researchers.During the conference, the 2019 IUPAP Young Scientist Prize was awarded to Andreas Mooser (Max-Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics & CERN) and Christian Smorra (CERN). The Sheldon Datz Prize for an Outstanding Young Scientist attending ICPEAC was awarded to Vincent Lemelin (Department of Nuclear Medicine and Radiobiology, Sherbrooke University, Canada).The Local Organizing Committee would like to express its gratitude to the “Société Française de Physique”, the International Union for Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP), the European Physical Society, the City of Deauville, the Normandy Region, the University of Caen Normandie and all the conference sponsors for their financial aid which made the event possible, offered the tutorials to all the young scientists, and supported 45% of them to attend the main conference.Finally, the Local Organizing Committee would like to thank all the ICPEAC participants for their support and contributions to the conference.The Editors,For the proceedings of the ICPEAC XXXI papers:Lorenzo Ugo Ancarani, LPCT, CNRS-Université de LorraineChristian Bordas, ILM, CNRS-Université de LyonFranck Lépine, ILM, CNRS-Université de LyonDominique Vernhet, INSP, CNRS-Sorbonne UniversitéFor the proceedings of the ICPEAC XXXI abstracts:Henri Bachau, CELIA, CNRS-Université de BordeauxRichard Brédy, ILM, CNRS-Université de LyonOlivier Dulieu, LAC, CNRS-Université Paris-SaclayFrancis Penent, LCPMR, CNRS-Sorbonne UniversitéDominique Vernhet, INSP, CNRS-Sorbonne Université