The High-Power Lasers and Applications Conference was held in Munich, June 20 - 22, 1977. The conference took place simultaneously with the "Laser 77, International Congress and Trade Fair" at the Munich Fair Ground. The meeting was a continuation of a series of colloquia on elec tronic transition lasers previously held in the United States. The main topics of the conference were: high-power VUV, UV, visible and IR la sers, including an analysis of laser systems, technology and laser con cepts. Also, some applications to nonlinear optics, chemical kinetics and spectroscopy, particularly with respect to isotope separation, were discussed. The conference was attended by 95 scientists representing Austria, Canada, England, Finland, Germany (FRG), Germany (GDR), France, Israel, Italy, The Netherlands, and the U.S.A. The organizers acknowledge financial support from the Deutsche Forschungs gemeinschaft, the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the U.S. Air Force European Office of Aerospace Research and Development (EOARD) and the U.S. Army European Research Office, as well as from the companies Coherent Radiation, Spectra Physics and Cryophysics. Furthermore, we thank our colleagues Dr. Steven N. Suchard and Professor Jeffrey I. Steinfeld for coordinating the U.S. contribution to the conference. We are grateful to Frau Maischberger for administrative assistance."

This volume contains lectures and seminars presented at the Nato Advanced Study Institute on "Laser Applications to Chemistry" held at San Miniato (Pisa) Italy, June 27 - July 11, 1982. We would like to give our recognition to all who contributed to the superb scientific quality and to the stimulating atmosphere of this summer school. In particular, we thank all speakers and participants in the discussions. We acknowledge the great efforts of Tito Arecchi as the director of the school, and the assistance of Mrs. Maria Bonaria Petrone and Mrs. Giovanna Ravini in the or ganization of the conference. On behalf of all participants we thank Miss Iva Arecchi for the friendly care she has taken and for her profound guidance through its history and the arts of the Toscana during the excursions. We are in particular indebted to Giacinto Scoles who organ ized this meeting together with Karl L. Kompa. Unfortunately, due to health reasons, Giacinto Scoles had to give up the idea of edit ing the proceedings of this meeting. Naturally, the change in the editorial staff caused a delay in the preparation of this volume. The subject of laser application to chemistry has not been review ed comprehensively in recent years. Many of the lectures andsem inars presented in San Miniato had the character of review arti cles. Therefore we feel that the material contained in this vol ume has not lost any of its actuality."

This conference on both the physics and chemistry of laser-induced processes in molecules was organized by the Quantum Electronics Divisional Board of the European Physical Society whose membership is given on p.367. The confer ence aim, to mix physicists and chemists interested in this exciting field both from Europe and further afield, was well fulfilled by the attendance of around 250 participants and the submission of about 100 papers, which dre presented here. Numerous people at both the Physics Department, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, and at the Projektgruppe fUr Laserforschung, MPI, Garching, con tributed hard work to the organization; in addition to Dr. Bob Harrison, who bore the biggest burden with conspicuous success, we particularly thank Hugh MacKenzie, Richard Dennis and last but not least Miss Joanne Askham and the secretaries in Edinburgh together with Frau Doris Maischberger and the secretaries in Garching. December 1978 K.L. Kompa S.D. Smith Conren Part I. Study of Lasers and Related Techniques Suitable for Applications in Chemistry and Spectroscopy Rare Gas Halogen Lasers and Photochemical Applications. By S.D. Rockwood................................................... 3 Group VI Molecular Photolytic Dissociation Studies Using Rare Gas Halide Lasers. By M.C. Gower, A.J. Kearsley, and C.E. Webb ......... 8 Broadly Tunable UV Source Based on Stimulated Raman Scattering."

Lasers and chemical change is the study of radiation and molecules in dis equilibrium. The distinguishing feature of such systems is the extreme de parture from thermal equilibrium: the radiation is usually confined to a narrow frequency range, is well coll imated, and is far brighter than black body radiation; the chemical composition and also the distribution of mole cules over their different energy states are often markedly displaced from that expected at equilibrium. Such systems can be used as a source of laser radiation and, reversedly, lasers can rapidly and selectively displace mole cular systems from equilibrium. The subsequent evolution of the initially prepared state can then be monitored - again using lasers. One purpose of this book is to introduce the concepts required to d- cuss systems of radiation and molecules in disequilibrium. These include the physics of (laser) radiation and of radiation-matter interaction and molecular structure and spectroscopy. Excellent textbooks of these topics are available and our survey (in Chap. 3) is only intended to accent the es sential points, with special reference to atomic and molecular radiation physics. Considerably more attention is given to the topic of disequilibrium in chemical systems (Chap. 2). In particular we consider both inter- and intra molecular dynamics with special reference to energy requirements and energy disposal in chemical reactions and to what goes on in between - intramole cular energy migration."