Ultrafast Phenomena XVII 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. Ultrafast technology has a profound impact in a wide range of applications, amongst them biomedical imaging, chemical dynamics, frequency standards, material processing, and ultrahigh speed communications. This book summarizes the results presented at the 17th International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena and provides an up-to-date view of this important and rapidly advancing field.

Majed Chergui is Professor at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. He and his group have pioneered picoseconds and femtosecond X-ray absorption spectroscopy, which they use to probe the structural dynamics of chemical and biological systems.

David M. Jonas is Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Colorado. He is known for his contributions to phase resolved nonlinear optics.

Eberhard Riedle is Professor of experimental physics at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen. He is a well known expert both in the generation and spectroscopic application of ultrafast tunable pulses.

Robert W. Schoenlein is Deputy Director for Science, Advanced Light Source at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. His current research is in the application of ultrafast x-ray spectroscopy and diffraction techniques to investigate atomic and electronic structural dynamics in condensed matter.

Antoinette J. Taylor is Leader of the Materials Physics and Applications Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Her research interests include the investigation of ultrafast dynamical processes in materials and the development of novel ultrafast measurement techniques for the understanding of new phenomena.