This research conference aims to present a forum for discussion on optically induced non-equilibrium dynamics and photoinduced phase transitions in cooperative condensed matter systems. The main focus of the conference is on time dependent properties of fundamental and quasi-particle excitations, induced solid-solid and solid-liquid phase transitions, and on the electronic and magnetic switching phenomena.

Recent studies include the study of nuclear motion in single molecules, revealing the relaxation mechanisms of charge excitations in correlated solids, and induced ferroelectricity in molecular crystals. One characteristic of the approach is that the system investigated is no longer in strict thermodynamic equilibrium, even though this deviation might be marginal. It may be either in an excited state whose decay into other degrees of freedom is being probed, yielding information unavailable to conventional time-averaged frequency domain spectroscopies, or in a metastable state with fundamentally different physical properties.

Typical topics include: Ultrafast quasi-particle dynamics in superconductors, colossal magneto-resistance materials, low dimensional charge and spin density wave compounds, insulators, Kondo systems and heavy fermion compounds; Time domain studies of structural, electronic, magnetic and orbital degrees of freedom; Optically induced magnetic, ferroelectric, metal-insulator and solid-liquid phase transitions; and Ultrafast magnetic and electronic switching phenomena.