Symposium Welcome

摘要

On behalf of my fellow cochairs, Greg Exarhos, M. J. Soileau, and Chris Stolz, I extend a hearty welcome to all participants to the 40th .Annual Symposium on Optical Materials for High-Power Lasers. Forty years have passed since the first Conference which was started by Dr. Art Guenther and Dr. Alex Glass following the idea to join forces in the field of high power materials for laser applications. In those days research in laser materials and optical components was considered as a transient activity with clear targets to be achieved in a finite time period. An example characteristically reflecting this attitude is the following opinion advanced by one of the cofounders, Dr. Alex Glass, on the occasion of the 10-year anniversary of the conference: "It is my annual hope that each year's symposium will be the last."