The Ultrafast Phenomena Conferences have been held since 1976 every two years and have widely been recognized as the premier and main international forum for gathering the community of scientists and engineers working in research and technology related to ultrafast phenomena. It is a unique opportunity to bring together atomic, molecular and condensed matter physicists, physical chemists, biophysicists and scientists developing new tools, methodologies and techniques, all working on the science of ultrafast phenomena. These phenomena cover the time scales ranging from picoseconds (1 ps=10-12 s) to hundreds of attoseconds (1 as=10-18 s). In the past ten years, the field of ultrafast phenomena has moved ahead in a breath-taking fashion, thanks in part to the development of new laser-based as well as accelerator-based sources of ultrashort pulses of electrons and light, such as high-harmonic generation, few-cycle optical pulses, sources of short wavelength radiation such as X-ray free-electron lasers. The spectral range of ultrashort pulses of radiation has been extended to the long wavelength range such as terahertz radiation, and the short wavelength range such as vacuum ultraviolet and the soft and hard X-ray domains. Together with the development of new methodologies, e.g., multidimensional spectroscopies, THz spectroscopy, electron-based techniques (EELS, PINEM, UED, etc.) and X-ray-based techniques such as serial femtosecond coherent diffractive imaging, these great leaps forward are delivering an impressive degree of insight into phenomena both within atoms and between atoms and up in scale to macromolecular systems. At the same time, the flexibility in methodologies opens perspectives for major applications in the fields of solar energy, molecular electronics, optoelectronic devices, biomimetic devices, etc. Last but not least, all this is accompanied by an improvement in theoretical models, strongly supported by the increase in computational power, which are indispensable for our understanding of phenomena on such ultra-short time scales.

The 2018 edition was the XXIst of the series and it was the sixth time it was hosted in Europe. It brought together a multidisciplinary group of scientists and engineers sharing a common interest in the generation, manipulation and use of ultrashort pulses in the picosecond to the attosecond regimes and their applications to studies of ultrafast phenomena in physics, chemistry, materials science, electronics, biology, engineering, and medical applications. In addition, submissions involving real-world applications of ultrafast technology were encouraged. Finally, a tabletop exhibit featuring leading companies in lasers, optics and optoelectronics and instrumentation was held in conjunction with the meeting.