I: Lasers for Ultrashort Pulses.- Sub-5 fs Pulses: Generation, Characterization and Experiments.- Generation of Intense Diffraction-Limited White Light and 4-fs Pulses.- Broadband Operation of a Ti:Sapphire Laser Using Novel Double-Chirped Mirrors and Semiconductor Saturable Absorbers.- Improved Broadband Double-Chirped Mirrors with Controlled Dispersion Characteristics.- A New Type of Saturable Bragg Reflector with Record-Low Saturation Fluence and Broad Tuning Range.- Time-Resolved Measurement of Electronic and Vibrational Nonlinear Refraction in Ti:Sapphire and Cr:LiSGaF.- Generation of Amplified Shaped Pulses for Highly Adiabatic Excitation.- Transient Excited-State Absorption Measurement in Chromium Doped Forsterite.- Ultrafast Fiber Lasers.- First Experimental Observation of Polarization Locked Temporal Vector Solitons.- Time-Domain Jitter Measurement of Modelocked Fiber Lasers.- 0.28 TW Laser System at 1 kHz, Scaleable to 2 TW at 1 kHz.- Generation of 100 TW, Sub-20 fs Pulses at a 10-Hz Repetition Rate in Ti:Sapphire.- II: Nonlinear Frequency Conversion and Pulse Shaping.- Ultra-Broadband Optical Parametric Amplifiers in the Visible and in the Near-Infrared.- Sub-5-fs Pulse Generation by Pulse-Front-Matched Optical Parametric Amplication.- Tunable Visible and NIR Parametric Amplifiers at 1 kHz and Pulse Lengths Down to 10 fs.- Parametric Chirped Pulse Microamplifier Based on Engineerable Quasi-Phase-Matched LiNbO3.- High Repetition Rate Mid-Infrared Femtosecond Optical Parametric Oscillator.- Generation of High Repetition Rate Femtosecond Infrared Pulses Tunable from 9 to 18 µm.- A Proof of Principle Experiment of Sum Frequency Generation Using Chirped Pulses.- A Novel Scheme for High-Intensity Ultrashort Pulse Generation.- Self-Focusing in Waveguides.- Observation of Raman Self-Conversion of fs-Pulse Frequency due to Impulsive Excitation of Molecular Vibrations.- Spatio-Temporal Coherence Properties of Super-Continuum Single Filament in Bulk Media.- Second Harmonic Pulse Compression.- Adaptive Control of Pulse Phase in a Chirped Pulse Amplifier.- Wavefront Correction of High Intensity Femtosecond Lasers.- Spatiotemporal Imaging, Spatiotemporal Pulse Shaping, and Spatiotemporal Coherent Control.- III: Pulse Diagnostics, Measurement Techniques, Nonlinear Optics.- Infrared Streak Camera.- In-Situ Waveform Retrieval and Display of Femtosecond Optical Pulses and Picosecond Electrical Pulses.- Spectral Phase Interferometry for Direct Electric Field Reconstruction of Ultrashort Optical Pulses.- Spatial-Temporal Field Distribution of Self-Focused Femtosecond Pulses.- Pulse Characterization Techniques for sub-30 Femtosecond Terawatt Lasers.- Single-Shot Third-Order Correlator for Femtosecond Terawatt Ti:Sapphire Lasers.- Temporal Evolution of Selfguided Femtosecond Laser Pulses in the Presence of Kerr-Nonlinearity and Ionisation.- Femtosecond Lidar.- Superluminal Localized Waves in Femtosecond Optics.- Even-Order Nonlinear Interaction of Focused Femtosecond Beam with the Bulk of Chiral Media.- Complete Electric Field of Femtosecond Photon Echoes at Their Point of Origin.- Characterization of the Complex Third-Order Susceptibility of Myoglobin Using Diffractive Optics.- Time Domain Separation of the Nuclear and Electronic Contributions to the Third Order Nonlinearity in Glasses.- Multiple-Pulse Control and Bispectral 2D Raman Analysis of Nonlinear Lattice Dynamics.- Engineering Quantum Indistinguishability in Ultrafast Parametric Downconversion.- IV: Imaging and Microscopy.- Ultrafast Laser Technology Applied to Whole-Field Fluorescence Lifetime Changing.- Optical Coherence Tomography Using Femtosecond Lasers.- 3D-Microscopy Using Third-Harmonic Generation at Interfaces in Biological and Non-Biological Specimens.- Ultrafast STM-Tip Localized Responses from Nanostructured Surfaces.- Ultrafast Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Using a Photoexcited Low-Temperature-Grown GaAs Tip.- Photoconductive Sampling with a Scanning Tunneling Microscope.- Femtosecond Nonlinear Microscopy of Photoconductors.- Time-Resolved Near-Field Spectroscopy of the Carrier Dynamics in Single GaAs Nanostructures.- Time Resolved Near Field Imaging and Diffraction with Sub-Wavelength Far-Infrared Dipole Sources.- V: High Speed Optoelectronics and Thz Radiation.- Ultrafast All-Optical Signal Processing at Over 100 Gbit/s with Mode- Locked Semiconductor Diode Lasers.- Characterization of Interferometric Switching Devices for Ultrafast All-Optical Signal Processing.- Measurement of 1.4 THz Beat Frequencies from a Dual Wavelength Gain-Switched Laser Diode Using Frequency-Resolved Optical Gating.- Spectral Holography for Dynamic Dispersion Compensation.- Femtosecond Optical Pulse Generation from CW Laser Using Electrooptic Phase Modulator Featuring Lens Modulation.- Characterization of gt; 300 GHz Transistors Using a Novel Optoelectronic Network Analyzer.- Free-Space Electro-Optic of THz Radiation with Chirped Optical Beam.- Spectrum Control of Intense THz-Radiation from InAs under Magnetic Field Irradiated with Stretched Femtosecond Laser.- Dithered-Edge Sampling of Terahertz Pulses: Fast Detection Using Slow Photoconductive Receivers.- Driving Intersubband Transitions with THz Pulses.- VI: Coherence in Semiconductors.- Quantum Interference Control of Free Carriers in Semiconductors.- Optical Control of Precession of Mn2+ Moment in CdTe/Cd1?xMnxTe Quantum Wells.- Ultrafast Time-Resolved Quantum Beats in the Polarization State of Coherent Emission from Quantum Wells.- Femtosecond Coherent Response of Spin-Orbit Split-Off Excitons in InP.- Femtosecond Dynamics and Coherence Properties of Resonant Secondary Emission from Excitons in GaAs Quantum Wells.- Femtosecond Interferometric Measurements of Secondary Emission from Resonantly Excited Quantum Wells.- Quantum Coherence Dynamics of 2D-Exeitons.- Femtosecond Two Color Four-Wave Mixing Experiments on GaAs Quantum Wells Using Two Independently Tunable Lasers.- Temporal and Spectrial Characteristics of Radiatively Coupled Excitons in Multiple Quantum Wells.- Pulse Breakup Due to Coherent Self-Induced Transmission on a Free Exciton Resonance.- Excitonic Quantum Beating in Space- and Time-Resolved Pump and Probe Experiments.- Ultrafast Phase Relaxation of Confined Excitons in CuCol Nanocrystals: Non-Markovian Behaviors.- Study of Hexagonal GaN by Femtosecond Excitation Correlation Measurement and Degenerate Four-Wave-Mixing.- Evidence of Trion and Carrier Localization in Modulation Doped Quantum Wells by fs and ps FWM Studies.- Ultrafast Pump-Probe Signals at the Band Edge of Bulk GaAs: Excitonic Versus Free Carrier Contributions.- Femtosecond Coherent Dynamics of Free Carriers in Semiconductors.- Intraband Coherence after Energy Relaxation.- Subpicosecond Carrier-Phonon Interactions in GaAs/AlxGa1?xAs MQW: Plasmon-Phonon Coupling Mediated by Well-to-Well Coupling in MQW's.- Study of Coherent Folded Acoustic Phonons in GaAs/AlAs Superlattices by Two-Color Pump-Probe Technique.- Coherent Acoustic Phonon Oscillations in Superlattices.- High-Field Transport in Semiconductors Studies via Ultrabroadband THz Sampling.- Kinetics of Four-Wave Mixing for a Magnetoplasma in a Quantum Well.- VII: Relaxation in Semiconductors, Processing of Semiconductors and Dielectrics.- Ultrafast Heating and Cooling of Electrons in GaAs at Room Temperature.- Effects of Carrier Screening and State Filling on the Carrier Scattering of Si-Doped GaAs.- Ultrafast Nonlinear Absorption in an Exciton Bragg Reflector.- Super-Radiant Decay in Two-Dimensional Layered Semiconductors.- Spectral Hole Burning in Intersubband Absorption Bands of Quantum-Well-Structures.- Ultrafast Carrier Capture into InGaAs/GaAs Quantum Wells.- Femtosecond Dynamics in Seminconductor Lasers: Dark Pulse Formation.- Ultrafast Dynamics of Field-Induced Charge Generation in Conducting Polymers.- Ultrafast Phase Transition in GeSb Films Triggered by Femtosecond Laser Pulses.- Time of Flight Mass Spectroscopy of Femtosecond Laser Ablation of Solid Surfaces.- Nanometer Precision Material Ablation and Optical Breakdown with Sub-10 fs Pulses.- Time Resolved Studies of Femtosecond Laser Induced Ablation from Solid Surfaces.- Surface Modifications in Transformations Dielectrics Induced by a Mid-Infrared Free-Electron Laser.- VIII: Surfaces, Metals and Superconductors.- Direct Measurement of the Valence Band Decoherence in Copper.- Lifetime Effects of Xenon Adsorption on the Image-Potential States of Ru(0001).- Dephasing of Image-Potential States on Cu(100) upon CO Adsorption Measured by Femtosecond Two-Photon Photoemission Spectroscopy.- Excited Electron Dynamics at Benzene/Af(111).- New Directions in Nonlinear Surface Spectroscopy Enabled by Ultrafast Lasers.- Ultrafast Broadband (0.5?2.5 eV) Absorption Spectroscopy of a One-Dimensional Mixed-Valence Metal Complex.- Ultrafast Surface Plasmon Resonance Nonlinearities in Noble Metal Nanoparticles.- Nonlinear Optical Interplay Between Different Surface Plasmons in Silver Nano-Ellipsoids.- Femtosecond Spectroscopy of Silver Nanoparticles in Different Dielectric Matrixes.- Ultrafast Relaxation Processes in Au Quantum Dots at High Pulse Repetition Frequencies.- Femtosecond Demagnetization of Ferromagnetic CoPt3 Thin Films and Ni Nanoparticles.- Generation of Coherent and Squeezed Phonon Fields Using Femtosecond Laser Pulses.- Nonequilibrium Superconductivity and Quasiparticle Dynamics in YBa2Cu3O7.- Femtosecond Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy of Nonequilibrium Excitations in YBa2CuO7??.- IX: Higher Harmonics, X-Ray Generation and Diffraction, High Intensity Physics.- Phase-Matched Generation of Short Wavelength, Ultrashort-Pulse Light in Capillary Waveguides.- Generation of Near-keV High Harmonie Radiation With a Sub-10 fs Laser.- Temporal Broadening of Femtosecond High Harmonic Radiation.- High-Order Harmonic Generation and Quasi-Phase-Matching with Self-Guided Femtosecond Laser Pulses.- Kilohertz High Harmonic Generation in Hollow Core Fibers.- Generation of "Dark" Femtosecond Synchrotron Pulses from the Advanced Light Source.- Disorder in Solids Studied on an Ultrashort Timescale Using Femtosecond X-Ray Diffraction.- Vacuum Heating vs. Resonance Absorption in the Solid to Plasma Transition of fs-Laser-Irradiated Iron and Aluminum.- Ultrafast Structural Dynamics in InSb Probed by Time-Resolved X-Ray Diffraction.- Time-Resolved X-Ray Diffraction of GaAs With a 20-fs, Laser-Driven Plasma Source.- Interaction of Superintense Femtosecond Laser Pulses with Cluster-Like Solids.- Probing Black Hole Physics in the Laboratory Using High Intensity Femtosecond Lasers.- Experimental Observation of Photon Acceleration of Femtosecond Laser Pulses in Relativistic Underdense Ionization Fronts.- Generation of Ultrashort Electron Bunches Using Table-Top Laser-Plasma-Based Electron Accelerators.- Ultrafast Optical Diagnostics for Laser Driven Wakefields and Plasma Fibers.- Ultrafast Plasma Studies by Phase Measurements With Femtosecond Spectral Interferometry.- X: Ultrafast Dynamics and Control of Atoms, Molecules and Clusters in the Gas Phase.- Complete Measurement and Control of Rydberg Wave Packets.- Collective Multi-Electron Tunneling in State- and Charge-Selected Atoms in Strong Fields.- Femtosecond Time-Resolved Experiments in Atomic Calcium in Weak and Strong Laser Fields.- Femtosecond Coherent Spectroscopy at 800 nm: MI-FROG Measures High-Field Ionization Rates in Gases.- Resonant Effects in Above Threshold Ionization.- Imaging of Ions Produced by Femtosecond Laser Induced Coulomb Explosion of Molecules.- Coulomb Explosion Imaging of H2+.- High Resolution Investigation of H2+ Exploding in a High Intensity Ultrashort Laser Pulse.- Photodissociation of Na2+ in Intense Femtosecond Laser Fields.- Time-Resolved Configuration Interaction.- Ultrafast Dissociation Dynamics of Polynuclear Organometallic Compounds in the Gas Phase.- Vibrational Ladder Climbing with Chirped Pulses.- Optimal Laser Control for Photoisomerization.- Quantum Control of Femtosecond Multiphoton Absorption via Chirp.- Automated Coherent Control of Chemical Reactions and Pulse Compression by an Evolutionary Algorithm with Feedback.- Dynamics of Charge-Transfer-to-Solvent Precursor States in I?(D2O)n Clusters.- Analysis of the Femtosecond Time-Resolved Photoelectron Spectra of the Ammonia Dimer Excited to the à State.- Time-Resolved Observation of Geometrical Reorientations of Metal Clusters.- Experimental Observation of Resonance Effects in Intensely Irradiated Atomic Clusters.- XI: Vibronic Excitations and Radiationless Processes.- Conical Intersections and Femtosecond Dynamics.- Vibrational Coherence in Excited State of an Electron Donor-Acceptor Complex.- Ultrafast Vibrational Energy Transfer Studied by a Novel Spectrometer.- Ultrafast Relaxation Processes of Metal-to-Ligand Charge Transfer Excited State in One-Dimensional Metal Complex.- Sub-Picosecond Interfacial Electron Injection in Dye Sensitized Titanium Dioside Films.- Local Density Effects in the Energy Relaxation of Vibrationally Highly Excited Molecules from the Gas to the Compressed Liquid Phase.- The UV Band System of the Allyl Radical, Studied by Time-Resolved Photoelectron Spectroscopy.- Vibrational Relaxation and Dephasing of Small Molecules Strongly Interacting with Water.- Anomalous 1-ps Relaxation of Excited Exciton in J-Aggregates of Three-Level Molecules.- Coherence from Femtosecond Fluorescence Interference Noise-Terahertz Electronic Beatings in Pentacene.- Fluorescence of Dye Molecules Embedded in a Photonic Crystal.- XII: Dynamics in Liquids and Solutions.- Chirped Wavepacket Dynamics of Solvating HgBr.- A Quantum Mechanical/Molecular Mechanical Approach to Solvation Dynamics Tested by Three Pulse Photon Echo Measuerements.- Dynamics of Site-Specific Excited-State Solute-Solvent Interactions as Probed by Femtosecond Vibrational Spectroscopy.- Studies of Molecular Interactions and Collective Liquid Motions with Two-Dimensional Raman Spectroscopy.- Two-Dimensional Raman-Echo Spectroscopy: Femtosecond View of Vibrational Coherence.- Ultrafast Solvation Dynamics and Quantum Beats.- Ultrafast Relaxation of the Dye LDS-750 in Solution: Dependence on Excitation Wavelength.- Optically Induced SHG as a Probe of Orientational Dynamics in Liquids.- Solvation Dynamics in Restricted Environments: Solvent Immobilization in Reverse Micelles.- Photon Echo Studies of Solute-Solvent Interaction Dynamics in Polymer Glasses.- Ultrafast Measurement of Microscopic Chemical Environments Using High Intensity Chirped Pulses.- Femtosecond Mid-Infrared Pump-Probe Spectroscopy of Water and Ice.- Time-Resolved THz Studies of Liquid Dynamics.- THz Reflection Spectroscopy of H2O(I) and D2O(I).- Subpicosecond Holeburning Spectroscopy of Water in the Infrared: Dynamics of Local Structures.- Dynamics of the Hydrogen-Bond in Liquid Water.- Mode Coupling Mechanisms in Liquids Studied by 2D Raman Scattering.- Electronic "Bubble" Dynamics in Solid Argon.- Femtosecond Pump-Probe Spectroscopy on the Equilibrated Aqueous Solvated Electron: Isotope Effects and Saturation Studies.- Hydrated Electron Dynamics on a 5-fs Time Scale.- Femtosecond Pump-Probe-Spectroscopy of the Solvated Electron in Water and Aqueous Salt Solutions.- Excitation Energy Dependence of the H/D Isotope Effect in the Geminate Recombination of Hydrated Electrons.- XIII: Ultrafast Photochemistry.- Investigating the Photochemical Dynamics of Chlorine Dioxide in Water and Acetronitrile using Ultrafast Pump-Probe Spectroscopy.- Instantaneous Product Anisotropics in the fs-Photolysis of Triiodide.- Photoinduced Release of Nitric Oxide from S-Nitrosogluathione.- Aromatic Solute Photoionization Studied by Femtosecond Transient Absorption Spectroscopy.- Ultrafast Photomodulation of Conformation in Azobenzene Containing Cyclic Peptides.- Potential Energy Surfaces for Ultrafast Photochemistry: Short Chain Polyenes and Protonated Schiff Bases.- Ultrafast Photoisomerizations and S1/S0 Internal Conversions in Organic and Inorganic Molecules: Evidence for Easily Accessible Conical Intersections.- Femtosecond Dynamics of Quantum Dissipative Systems: Localization of Electrons at Interfaces.- Ultrafast Reaction in Solvated Metal Atom Clusters: A Dynamic Study in the Visible and Near IR Spectral Range.- Photodissociation of CH2I2 and the Subsequent Electron Transfer in its Cluster Formed in Solution.- Dynamics of Excited-State Evolution in Transition Metal Complexes: Time Resolving Electron Derealization.- Modulation of Ultrafast Electron Transfer Dynamics by Wavepacket Motion in Oxazine 1.- Site Dependent Electron Transfer Reaction in Solution.- Measurements and Theoretical Modelling of Ultrafast Heterogeneous Spacer-Controlled Electron Transfer.- Femtosecond IR Study of Ru(II)(SCN)2(dcbpy)2 Sensitized Nanocrystalline TiO2 Thin Films: Ultrafast Electron Injection and Relaxation Dynamics.- Femtosecond Photoselectivity in Intramolecular Double Proton Transfer in [2,2?-bipyridyl]-3,3?-diol.- Feedback Quantum Control of Population Transfer Using Shaped Femtosecond Pulses.- Control of Condensed Phase Molecular Excitation with Intense Infrared and Visible Chirped Pulses.- XIV: Biology and Medicine.- Femtosecond Dynamics, Two-Dimensional Infrared Spectroscopy and Echoes of Protein Vibrations.- Three Pulse Echo Peak Shift Measurements and ab initio Excited State Calculations of Photosynthetic Light Harvesting Function.- Two-Dimensional Femtosecond Spectroscopies of Coupled Chromophores.- Fluorescence Upconversion and ab initio Studies of the Light-Harvesting Function of Carotenoids in Bacterial Light-Harvesting Antenna.- Dynamics of Energy Transfer in the LH2 Antenna Complex of the Purple Bacterium Rhodobacter Sphaeroides.- Ultrafast Singlet Energy Transfer in a Carotenopyropheophorbide Dyad: A Biomimetic Model for Photosynthetic Light Harvesting?.- Adiabatic Behaviour in the Primary Photosynthetic Electron Transfer.- Characterization of the Ultrafast Processes in the Trimeric Photosystem I Complex by Femtosecond Transient Absorption.- Single and Double Mutants of Bacteriorhodopsin and Their Impact on Photoisomerization.- Femtosecond-Picosecond Fluorescence Studies on Excited State Dynamics of Photoactive Yellow Protein (PYP) and its Site-Directed Mutants.- Femtosecond Lasers for Ultra-Accurate Surgery: Application to Corneal Surgery.- Index of Contributors.

This volume contains papers presented at the Eleventh International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena held at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, from July 12 to 17, 1998. The biannual Ultrafast Phenomena Conferences provide a forum for dis­ cussion of the latest advances in ultrafast optics and their applications in science and engineering. The Garmisch conference brought together a multidisciplinary group of 440 participants from 27 countries, including 127 students. The enthu­ siasm of this large number of Participants, the high quality of the papers they presented and the magnificent conference site resulted in a successful and pleasant conference. Progress was reported in the technology of generating ultrashort pulses, in­ cluding new techniques for improving laser-pulse duration, tunability over broad wavelength ranges, output power and peak intensity. Ultrafast spectroscopy con­ tinues to provide new insight into fundamental processes in physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering. In addition to analyzing ultrafast phenomena, control of ultrafast dynamics now represents an important topic. Ultrafast concepts and tech­ niques are being applied in imaging and microscopy, high speed optoelectronics, mat~rial diagnostics and processing, reflecting the maturing of the field. Acknowledgements. Many people contributed to the success of the conference.