Sources of ultrashort laser pulses are nowadays commercially available and have entered many areas of research and development. This book gives an overview of biological and medical applications of these laser pulses. The briefness of these laser pulses permits the tracing of the fastest processes in photo-active bio-systems, which is one focus of the book. The other focus is applications that rely on the high peak intensity of ultrashort laser pulses. Examples covered span non-linear imaging techniques, optical tomography, and laser surgery.

Braun: German Diploma in Physics, 1996, Bayreuth; PhD in Physics, 1999, Stuttgart; Feodor-Lynen fellow, Alexander-von-Humboldt foundation 2000-2001; Postdoc at the Georgia Institute of Technology U.S.A., 2000-2001; since 2001 wiss. Assistent, LMU München; Research interests: Ultrafast spectroscopy, time-resolved X-ray, photoisomerization, nanoscience scattering, solid state physics

Gilch: German Diploma in Chemistry, 1995, Konstanz; PhD in Physical Chemistry, 1999, TU München; Albert-Weller-Preis of the GdCh, 1999; Habilitation in Experimental Physics, 2005, LMU München; since 2005 Privatdozent, LMU München; Research interest: Ultrafast spin dynamics, vibrational relaxation, mechanism of complex photo-reactions, time resolved Raman and fluorescence spectroscopy, recently non-linear Raman microscopy

Zinth: German Diploma in Physics, 1976, TU München; PhD in Physics, 1979, TU München; Habilitation in Experimental Physics, 1985, TU München; Professor (C3) Physik-Department, 1987-1991, TU München; Professor (Ordinarius, C4), since 1991, LMU München; Departmental advisor, 199-2003, LMU München

Ultrafast Lasers in Medicine.- Ultrahigh-Resolution Optical Coherence Tomography Using Femtosecond Lasers.- Two-Photon Laser Scanning Microscopy.- Femtosecond Lasers in Ophthalmology: Surgery and Imaging.- Ultrafast Lasers in Biology.- Ultrafast Peptide and Protein Dynamics by Vibrational Spectroscopy.- Photosynthetic Light-Harvesting.- Primary Photosynthetic Energy Conversion in Bacterial Reaction Centers.- Ultrafast Primary Reactions in the Photosystems of Oxygen-Evolving Organisms.- Primary Photochemistry in the Photoactive Yellow Protein: The Prototype Xanthopsin.- Structure Based Kinetics by Time-Resolved X-ray Crystallography.- Primary Reactions in Retinal Proteins.- Ultrashort Laser Pulses in Single Molecule Spectroscopy.