4th-International Symposium on Ultrafast Surface Science - Final Report

The 4-th International Symposium on Ultrafast Surface Dynamics (UDS4) was held at the Telluride Summer Research Center on June 22-27, 2003. The International Organizing Committee consisting of Hrvoje Petek (USA), Xiaoyang Zhu (USA), Pedro Echenique (Spain) and Maki Kawai (Japan) brought together a total of 51 participants 16 of whom were from Europe, 10 from Japan, and 25 from the USA. The focus of the conference was on ultrafast electron or light induced processes at well-defined surfaces. Ultrafast surface dynamics concerns the transfer of charge and energy at solid surfaces on the femtosecond time scale. These processes govern rates of fundamental steps in surface reactions, interfacial electron transfer in molecular electronics, and relaxation in spin transport. Recent developments in femtosecond laser technology make it possible to measure by a variety of nonlinear optical techniques directly in the time domain the microscopic rates underlying these interfacial processes. Parallel progress in scanning probe microscopy makes it possible at a single molecular level to perform the vibrational and electronic spectroscopy measurements, to induce reactions with tunneling electrons, and to observe their outcome. There is no doubt that successful development in the field of ultrafast surface dynamics will contribute to many important disciplines