Over the past five years, there has been an enormous increase in the inter­ est in and understanding of electronic and optoelectronic devices operating in the picosecond (multigigahertz) range. This has been fueled in a sig­ nificant way by the spectacular advances in picosecond laser technology, electro optic sampling, III-V devices, and wideband fiber optic systems. Partly to address these advances, a new conference jointly sponsored by the IEEE Lasers and Electrooptics Society (IEEE (LEOS)) and the Op­ tical Society of America (OSA) was founded and its first meeting held in March 1985. The purpose of this meeting was to bring together work­ ers in the areas of electronics and optoelectronics who share a common interest in the physics and technology of picosecond solid-state electronic and optoelectronic devices, their multigigahertz applications, and ultrafast measurement techniques. Emphasis was placed on the interdisciplinary as­ pects of these areas, since each area is covered by its own topical meeting. This meeting was quite successful and led to a second meeting, of which this volume forms the proceedings.

Over the past five years, there has been an enormous increase in the inter­ est in and understanding of electronic and optoelectronic devices operating in the picosecond (multigigahertz) range. This has been fueled in a sig­ nificant way by the spectacular advances in picosecond laser technology, electro optic sampling, III-V devices, and wideband fiber optic systems. Partly to address these advances, a new conference jointly sponsored by the IEEE Lasers and Electrooptics Society (IEEE (LEOS)) and the Op­ tical Society of America (OSA) was founded and its first meeting held in March 1985. The purpose of this meeting was to bring together work­ ers in the areas of electronics and optoelectronics who share a common interest in the physics and technology of picosecond solid-state electronic and optoelectronic devices, their multigigahertz applications, and ultrafast measurement techniques. Emphasis was placed on the interdisciplinary as­ pects of these areas, since each area is covered by its own topical meeting. This meeting was quite successful and led to a second meeting, of which this volume forms the proceedings.