Nonlinear Optics and Excitation Kinetics in Semiconductors

The 11th Conference on Nonlinear Optics and Excitation Kinetics in Semiconductors (NOEKS) was held in Stuttgart, Germany from 23rd to 27th September 2012. This particular conference celebrated a minor anniversary – it was 25 years ago that the first NOEKS was held in Bad Stuer in the former East Germany. This conference has its own heritage and started out as a singular event in 1987. An astounding number of groups were carrying out experimental and theoretical research in the field of semiconductor optics on both sides of the border that split Germany, and Europe, at that time. On the one hand, there was this accumulation of remarkable expertise and, on the other, many scientists east and west of this dividing line had never actually met each other personally. This community was brought together by the NOEKS conference and complemented by leading scientists from the USA and Japan, who also came to Bad Stuer. Since then, the NOEKS has become a wellestablished event every two to three years, and many rewarding cooperations have emerged during these conferences. he research directions in semiconductor optics have changed fundamentally in the past 25 years. Nanomaterials, quantum optics, plasmonics, spintronics and metamaterials have become established fields within the semiconductor community. Many new groups have joined the field; some of them have hosted subsequent NOEKS conferences. It is thanks to the excellent work undertaken by the organizers of these later conferences that NOEKS has kept pace with the times and always provided an excellent overview of the state‐of‐the‐art in this research field. With this in mind, I would like to express my warm thanks to Peter Michler, Michael Jetter, Sven Ulrich and their team from Stuttgart as well as to the members of the Program Committee for the perfect organization of the 11th NOEKS conference. Among the 129 participants in Stuttgart, 78 came from Germany, 35 from other European countries, 13 from USA and Canada, and 3 from Japan. The program contained 16 invited and 27 contributed talks as well as 85 poster presentations. The conference was supported by 14 exhibitors and 3 sponsors. I am delighted to announce and also organize the next NOEKS conference, which will take place in Bremen from 22nd to 25th September 2014. Frank Jahnke Institute for Theoretical Physics University of Bremen