The Tenth International Workshop on "Laser Interaction and Related Plasma Phenomena" was held November 11-15, 1991, at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. This conference joined physicists from 11 countries (Australia, Canada, China, France, Israel, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, united Kingdom, USA, and the USSR). This meeting was marked by the inauguration of the EDWARD TELLER MEDAL FOR ACHIEVEMENTS IN FUSION ENERGY. This medal served as a celebration of the tenth conference in the 22-year series and as an opportunity to honor one of the world's greatest physicists and a leading pioneer in this field: Edward Teller. Four medals were awarded in the inaugural ceremony. The first recipient of the medal was Nobel Laureate Nikolai G. Basov, who served for many years as Director of the LebedevPhysical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. In his address to Edward Teller, Dr. Basov underlined that Dr. Teller was the first in history to produce an exothermal nuclear fusion reaction, the mechanism that may now lead to an inexhaustive, environmentally clean, and low cost energy source in the future. This goal, he stressed, becomes more crucial as the greenhouse effect may not permit burning of fossil fuels for much longer. Basov also reviewed events leading the International Quantum Electronics Conferences of 1963 where he disclosed the first publication on laser fusion and that of 1968 where he reported the first observation of fusion neutrons using a laser-irradiated target. The second recipient was John H.

The 7th International Workshop in the series LASER INTERACTION AND RELATED PLASMA PHENOMENA continued the high standards established by the earlier meetings in this series. It was organized under the directorship of Heinrich Hora and George H. Miley at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, with Fred Schwirzke as the local organizer. These workshops have presented many "firsts" in laser plasma interactions and especially in laser fusion. Some presentations provided continuity with the past, most represented advancements; however, in some workshops, progress did not appear to be occurring as rapidly as in others. Therefore, it was a special pleasure that in the present workshop when, on October 30, 1985, Chiyoe Yamanaka disclosed a breakthrough in the generation of fusion neutrons with laser fusion targets. The 7th Workshop also continued to represent other new fields of laser-plasma interaction. The progress reported was most pronounced in the fields of X-ray lasers, laser acceleration of particles by electrostatic double layers in plasmas, and a particle beam technique to solve the geometric problem of muon-catalyzed fusion. The development of laser-plasma interactions at medium to high laser intensities may be seen in its whole complexity from a brief review of prior conferences. At the first Workshop in 1969, a comprehensive review of the field was presented by the speakers with the opening address by N.

The 9th International Workshop on "Laser Interaction and Related Plasma Phenomena" was held November 6-10, 1989, at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Cal ifornia. Starting in 1969, thi s represents a continuation of the longest series of meetings in this field in the United States. It is, in fact, the longest series anywhere with published Proceedings that document the advances and the growth of this dynamic field of physics and technology. Following the discovery of the laser in 1960, the study of processes involved in laser beam interactions with materials opened a basically new dimension of physics. The energy densities and intensities generated are many orders of magnitude beyond those previously observed in laboratories. Simultaneously, the temporal dynamics of this interaction covers a broad range, only recently reaching ultra short times, of the order of a few femtoseconds. Applications of this technology are of interest for many types of material treatments. Further, from the very beginning, a key ambitious goal has been to produce fusion energy by intense laser irradiation of a target containi ng appropriate fusion fuels. The vari ous phenomena discovered during the ensuing research on laser-fusion are, indeed, much more complex than originally expected. However, in view of recent advances in physics understanding, a route to successful laser fusion can be seen. The development of fusion energy received a very strong stimulation since the last workshop due to the now partially publicized results of underground nuclear explosions.