Recent improvements in the performance of light sources, i.e. reduction in pulse length and increases in wavelength range and power levels, have led to ultrafast technology becoming a basic tool in a wide variety of scientific fields. This book describes the remarkable technological improvements and results of new applications in the natural sciences and various engineering fields.

This book reviews recent advances in experimental and theoretical understanding of phenomena on the picosecond and femtosecond time scales. The technology and applications in this field have shown remarkable progress recently. It is now possible to produce and measure pulses much shorter than 10 fs, which is approaching the inherent limit, in the visible region. Improvements in wavelength range, power levels and other performance parameters are also reported. These high-performance light sources are being used to study ultrafast phenomena in physical, chemical and biological systems and in artificial devices. The recent results reported and reviewed in this book provide a picture of the current status of the field.

Collecting twenty essays written by distinguished scholars from the United States and Germany, "The Holodeck in the Garden" offers an informative tour of the complex interrelations between science, technology, and contemporary American literature.

Contributors include Michael Berube writing on Colson Whitehead's "The Intuitionist"; Joseph Conte on William Gibson and Bruce Sterling; David Cowart on Don DeLillo's "Cosmopolis"; Carl Djerassi on science-in-fiction; N. Katherine Hayles on Neal Stephenson's "Cryptonomicon"; Ursula Heise on risk and narrative in the contemporary novel; John Johnston on network theory; Brian McHale on Harry Mathews, Kathy Acker, and Gilbert Sorrentino; Joseph Tabbi on William Gaddis; and Curtis White on the "Great American Disaster Machine."