Ultrafast spectroscopy for optically and magnetically active materials

The past few years have witnessed considerable progress in understanding ultrafast relaxational processes in solids. Low-dimensional semiconductors, metallic nanoparticles, magnetic semiconductors and high-temperature superconductors have featured strongly in this work. One of the most significant new technical developments in this area is time-resolved near-field optical spectroscopy, which permits individual nanostructure and spatially resolved dynamics to be probed.