First International Meeting on Applied Physics (APHYS-2003)

This special issue of Physica Scripta contains papers presented at the 1st International Meeting on Applied Physics (APHYS-2003), held in Badajoz (Spain), from 13th to 18th October 2003, and more specifically, selected papers presented during the conference sessions mainly on Applied Optics, Laser Physics, Ultrafast Phenomena, Optical Materials, Semiconductor Materials and Devices, Optoelectronics, Quantum Electronics and Applied Solid State Physics-Chemistry. APHYS-2003 was born as an attempt to create a new international forum on Applied Physics in Europe. Since Applied Physics is not really a branch of Physics, but the application of all the branches of Physics to the broad realms of practical problems in Science, Engineering and Industry, this conference was a truly multi and inter-disciplinary event. The organizers called for papers relating Physics with other sciences such as Biology, Chemistry, Information Science, Medicine, etc, or relating different Physics areas, and aimed at solving practical problems. In other words, the Conference was specifically interested in reports applying the techniques, the training, and the culture of Physics to research areas usually associated with other scientific and engineering disciplines. It was extremely rewarding that over 800 researchers, from over 65 countries, attended the conference, where more than 1000 research papers were presented. We feel really proud of this excellent response obtained (in number and quality), for this first edition of the conference. We are very grateful to all the members of the Organizing Committee, for the hard work done for the preparation of the Conference (which began one year before the conference start), and to the members of the International Advisory Committee, for the valuable contribution to the evaluation of submitted works. Also thank to the referees for the excellent work done in the revision of submitted papers. Finally, we would like to thank the Department of Physics of the University of Extremadura, for their support, and the Regional Government (Junta de Extremadura/Consejería de Educación, Ciencia y Tecnología), as well as INNOVA Instrumentación, for sponsoring the Conference.