This book summarizes the results presented at the 15th International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena and provides an up-to-date view of this important field. It presents the latest advances in ultrafast science, including both ultrafast optical technology and the study of ultrafast phenomena. It covers picosecond, femtosecond, and attosecond processes relevant to applications in physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering.

This volume is a collection of papers presented at the Fifteenth International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena held at the Asilomar Conference Grounds, Pacifc Grove, CA, USA, from July 31 – August 4, 2006. The Ultrafast P- nomena conferences are held every two years and provide a forum for disc- sion of the latest results in ultrafast optics and their applications in science and engineering. These meetings bring together researchers spanning several felds of science and engineering to discuss and debate the latest advances in ult- fast science. This unique forum provides a conduit for the greater dissemi- tion of the latest advances using ultrashort coherent pulses of light. More than 280 papers were presented. Signifcant progress in creating ever shorter pulses of light was reported in the attosecond range, with new applications in high harmonic generation and frequency comb metrology. Multidimensional sp- troscopy is rapidly evolving to provide new insights into quantum coherence and interactions in complex systems. Improvements in time resolved electron and x-ray diffraction provide better atomic scale perspectives on structural dynamics. These examples are but a small subset of the collected works ga- ered in this volume, which provides a valuable synopsis of the recent advances and impact of ultrafast technology in illuminating fundamental processes in physics, chemistry, and biology. There were 323 attendees at the meeting, more than one third of which were graduate and postdoctoral students. Increased s- dent attendance energized the proceedings.

This book presents the latest advances in ultrafast science, including both ultrafast optics technology and the study of ultrafast phenomena. It covers picosecond, femtosecond, and attosecond processes relevant to physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering applications. Ultrafast technology has a profound impact in a wide range of applications, among them biomedical imaging, chemical dynamics, frequency standards, materials processing, and ultrahigh-speed communications. This book summarizes the results presented at the 13th International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena and provides an up-to-date view of this important and rapidly advancing field.

This volume contains papers presented at the Tenth International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena held at Del Coronado, California, from May 28 to June 1, 1996. The biannual Ultrafast Phenomena Conferences provide a forum for the discussion of the latest advances in ultrafast optics and their applications in science and engineering. The Ultrafast Phenomena Conference maintains a broad international representation with 391 participants from 18 countries, including 94 students attending the conference. The multidisciplinary character of this meeting provides a cross-fertilization of ultrafast concepts and techniques among various scientific and engineering disciplines. The enthusiasm of the paticipants, the originality and quality of the papers that they presented, and the beautiful conference site combined to produce a very successful and enjoyable meeting. Progress was reported in the technology of generating ultrashort pulses, in cluding new techniques for improving laser-pulse duration, output power, wave length range, and compactness. Ultrafast spectroscopy continues to impact on and expand the knowledge base of fundamental processes in physics, chemistry, biol ogy and engineering. In addition ultrafast phenomena now extends to real-world applications in biology, high-speed communication, and material diagnostics. The Tenth Ultrafast Phenomena Conference was highlighted by a 'special event' in which the developments of the previous conferences were reviewed in a panel discussion by G. Mourou, E. Ippen, A. Migus, A. Laubereau and R. Hochstrasser.

The motivating idea of the first Topical Meeting on Picosecond Phenomena, which took place at Hilton Head Island in 1978, was to bring together scien tists and engineers in a congenial setting who were developing picosecond lasers with those who were applying them to problems in chemistry, physics, electronics, and biology. The field has advanced remarkably in the following six years. This is reflected in the size of the conference which has more than doubled in the past six years and now includes scientists from many countries around the world. As evidenced by the papers in this volume, the appl ication of ultrafast 1 ight pulses continues to grow in new and diverse directions encompassing an increasingly wide range of subject areas. This progress has gone hand-in-hand with the development of new and more precise methods of generating and measuring ultrafast light pulses, which now extend well into the femtosecond time domain. It was this latter advance which was responsible for changing the name of the conference to Ultrafast Phenomena. The 1984 meeting was held at the Monterey Conference Center in Monterey, Cal ifornia from June 11 to 15 under the sponsorship of the Optical Society of America. A total of 320 registered participants, including 65 students, attended the three and one-half day conference. The overall enthusiasm of the participants, the high quality of the research presented, and ambiance of the setting combined to produce a successful and enjoyable conference.

This book presents the latest advances in ultrafast science, including ultrafast laser and measurement technology, and studies of ultrafast phenomena. It summarizes the results presented at the 12th Ultrafast Phenomena Conference and reviews the state of the art of this important and rapidly advancing field.