Symposium M of the 1998 annual meeting of the European Materials Research Society has been devoted to "Molecular Photonics for Optical Communications: Materials, Physics and Device Technology." It was held in Strasbourg from 15-19 June, building on the sizable success of the former symposium "Molecular Electronics and Photonics," held during the last 1997 E-MRS meeting. A total of 42 oral and 36 poster presentations were delivered at this symposium. A most remarkable common feature to almost all papers presented concerned a very broad approach which was given to this particular field of "Materials Science," starting at the borderlines between chemistry and physics, photonics and electronics, from their most fundamental aspects all the way to technology and device engineering considerations.
The manuscripts have been gathered in four main areas. First and foremost, we brought together the papers encompassing the growing area of "Device Physics and Technology," to reflect the emphasis given during this symposium to the crucial application aspect of this theme of "Materials Science." The second chapter presents the most recent advances achieved in the field of "Luminescent Structures," which is one of the most active research areas in the field of (macro)molecular-based optoelectronics and lasing materials aiming at the realization of a polymer-based laser diode. The third chapter, demonstrates recent advances in the field of "Photonic Structures," whereby the most recent achievements have been brought to the attention of the scientific community, particularly in the realms of photorefractive polymers and nonlinear integrated optics devices. Finally the fourth chapter presents a very basic understanding of "Organic Solid State Properties," such as pertain to optically detected magnetic resonance or photo-conductivity studies.
Among the foremost conclusions to be drawn from the papers in both oral and poster sessions, the huge progress which has been accomplished towards the fabrication of real devices stands-out as a most noteworthy feature: this clearly signals to the organic community and hopefully much beyond, that molecular materials and associated devices have matured considerably in terms of fabrication technologies, stability and lifetime issues, as well as for the fundamental understanding of their properties.