Author Description

The Tunable Lasers and Applications Conference was held in Loen, Norway, on June 6-11, 1976. This conference dealt with the technology of tunable lasers from the vacuum ultraviolet to the far infrared and their application in the areas of photochemistry, chemical kinetics, isotope separation, at mospheric photochemistry and environmental studies, photobiology, and spec troscopy. The need for such a conference grew out of the rapidly expanding use of tunable lasers in a broad range of disciplines. The conference was attended by 130 scientists representing Japan, Italy, West Germany, Canada, Israel, France, England, Norway, Sweden, Brazil, Den mark, Finland, the Netherlands, the Soviet Union, and the United States. The location of the conference in Loen, Nordfjord, was chosen because of the magnificent beauty of its aqua-blue fjords surrounded by glacier-capped mountains and lush green hillsides. The Alexandra Hotel was a perfect host for such a conference with first class services, superb smorgesbord, and ex cellent audio-visual facilities. The atmosphere was free of distractions and provided for a relaxed interchange of ideas. An afternoon hike was arranged to the Briksdal glacier while the highlight of the outdoor activities was a bus-ship excursion to the magestically splendid Geiranger fjord. A sumptuous banquet was followed by an interesting'and entertaining illustrated talk on high-speed and underwater photography by Professor Harold Edgerton from MIT. Financial support from our sponsors is gratefully acknowledged in help ing to make this conference a complete success.