Ultrafast Phenomena XV

This volume is a collection of papers presented at the Fifteenth International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena held at the Asilomar Conference Grounds, Pacifc Grove, CA, USA, from July 31 – August 4, 2006. The Ultrafast P- nomena conferences are held every two years and provide a forum for disc- sion of the latest results in ultrafast optics and their applications in science and engineering. These meetings bring together researchers spanning several felds of science and engineering to discuss and debate the latest advances in ult- fast science. This unique forum provides a conduit for the greater dissemi- tion of the latest advances using ultrashort coherent pulses of light. More than 280 papers were presented. Signifcant progress in creating ever shorter pulses of light was reported in the attosecond range, with new applications in high harmonic generation and frequency comb metrology. Multidimensional sp- troscopy is rapidly evolving to provide new insights into quantum coherence and interactions in complex systems. Improvements in time resolved electron and x-ray diffraction provide better atomic scale perspectives on structural dynamics. These examples are but a small subset of the collected works ga- ered in this volume, which provides a valuable synopsis of the recent advances and impact of ultrafast technology in illuminating fundamental processes in physics, chemistry, and biology. There were 323 attendees at the meeting, more than one third of which were graduate and postdoctoral students. Increased s- dent attendance energized the proceedings.