Second International Conference on Photo-Induced Phase Transitions; Cooperative, non-linear and functional properties (PIPT'05)

Abstract

This issue is a collection of papers presented at the 2nd International Conference on Photo-Induced Phase Transitions; Cooperative, non-linear and functional properties (PIPT'05), which was held in Rennes (France) on 24–28 May 2005 and chaired by Hervé Cailleau and Tadeusz Luty. The first PIPT conference was organized by Professor Keiichiro Nasu in Tsukuba, Japan, in 2001. During 5 days, PIPT'05 provided an interdisciplinary forum for research communications between solid state physicists, photophysicists, photochemists and photobiologists, as well as material scientists. Scientists came from all around the world (Europe, Japan, USA, Canada, ...). The fascinating scientific challenge of the possibility of triggering physical properties of a material by light excitation was at the heart of the exchange of ideas between scientists of the different fields. The topics of the conference were about light-induced phenomena in functional materials, nano-particles and devices, photo-induced structural, magnetic and/or electronic phase transitions, photo-induced gauge type phase transitions, photo-induced cooperative molecular switching and chemical reactions in solids, dynamics of out-of-equilibrium processes, light-driven non-thermal processes such as coherent phonons, shock waves, surface melting and femtomagnetism, precursor phenomena, coherent, co-operative and non-linear processes in excited states and new investigations by light, x-ray and electron probes.As you will see, the collection of papers presented here cover many of the fields mentioned above. The PIPT conferences, encompassing different areas of light-induced phenomena are also meant to bridge the gap between experimentalists and theoreticians, and to promote communication between scientists working on different continents. The present conference was attended by 148 participants from 17 countries, with the total number of 87 presentations (16 invited, 27 contributed talks and 44 posters). It is encouraging to note that, in addition to the unwavering participation of the established members of the PIPT community, numerous young researchers could also participate in the conference. This has been possible thanks to the generous sponsorship from the University of Rennes 1, Rennes Métropole, Conseil Général d'Ille et Vilaine, Région Bretagne, CNRS (France) and JST/ERATO (Japan) and the organizers would like to express their enormous gratitude to these organizations.The present conference benefited also from substantial logistic support from the University of Rennes 1, which is gratefully acknowledged here.The papers published in this issue were refereed and accepted papers, according to the normal rules of the Journal of Physics: Conference Series. This proceedings issue comprises 40 papers. Thanks are due to IOP Publishing Ltd, of Dirac House, Temple Back, Bristol BS1 6BE, UK for their willingness to publish these proceedings.The Guest Editors express their gratitude to all the authors and the referees, while the organizers of PIPT'05 would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the International Advisory Committee and of the Local Organization Committee, the invited speakers, the session chairmen and all the attendees (see photo below) for their contribution to the conference. At the website http://www.gmcm.univ-rennes1.fr/pipt additional information and some photographs can be found. It is also a pleasure to announce that the next conference of the PIPT series will be held in 2007 in Japan, and will be chaired by Shin-ya Koshihara.