The field of optics has been accelerating at an unprecedented rate, due both to the tremendous growth of the field of fiber-optic communications, and to the improvement of optical materials and devices. Throughput capabilities of fiber systems are accelerating faster than Moore's law, the famous growth rate of silicon chip capability, which has propelled that industry relentlessly over decades. In addition, new optical storage techniques push the limits of information density, with an ever decreasing cost per bit of storage. Economic investment in photonics is at an all-time high. At the same time, other fields of optics, adaptive optics for instance, are bringing new capabilities to more classical applications such as astronomical imaging. New lasers continue to be developed, with applications in display, sensing, and biomedicine following at ever-shorter intervals after the initial discoveries. Given this background, the NATO Mediterranean Dialog Advanced Research Workshop on Unconventional Optical Elements for Information Storage, Processing and Communications, held in Israel on October 19-21, 1998, came at an opportune moment in the history of optics. Its aim was to overview the current state-of-the-art and encourage cooperation in the Mediterranean region, with a view to highlighting and enhancing the existing potential for further development and innovation. The workshop included participants from Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Morocco, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and USA.

Zusammenfassung
Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop, Tel Aviv, Israel, October 19-21, 1999

Inhalt
Unconventional Imaging and Processing.- Coherence Methods for Unconventional Imaging Processes.- Some Diffractive - Optical Systems Based on Novel Gratings.- Technologies and Potential Applications of Adaptive Optics.- Pattern Recognition with Joint Transform Correlators Recent Developments.- Storage of 3D Information on 2D Elements.- Generalized Super Resolution Approach based on the Degrees of Freedom Hyper-space Adaptation.- Diffractive Elements and Microoptics.- Real-Time Holographic Interferometry in Photorefractive BTO Crystals Using Optical Phase Conjugation with a Low Power Laser Diode.- Planar Diffractive Elements for Compact Optics.- Design and Fabrication Issues in Subwavelength Diffractive Optical Elements.- Subwavelength and Quasi-Subwavelength Diffractive Optical Elements.- Microsystems for Optical Imaging and Interconnects.- Micro-Optical Components for Information Technology Fabricated via LIGA Technique.- Nonlinear and Ultrafast Optics.- Nonlinear Photonic Engineering: Physics and Applications.- Novel Optical Phenomena in Near-Critical Photorefractive Crystals:Diffusion Driven Diffraction and Spontaneous Self-Trapping.- Frequency Upconversion of Lasers with Optical Parametric Oscillators.- Characterization of Nonlinear Optical Materials for Photonic Applications.- Adaptive Techniques in Ultrafast Optics.- Nonlinear Spatio-Temporal Information Processing with Femtosecond Laser Pulses.- Optical Communication.- All-Optical Semiconductor Switching Devices for Applications in Optical Communication Systems.- Computer Modeling of Optical Fibers and Waveguides.- Tbit/sec Optical ATM Switch Utilizing Dynamic WDM Technology.- Towards Uniform Channel Performance in Dynamic WDM Systems and Networks.- Devices, Interconnects and Switching.- Resonant Structuresfor Optical Processing and Communication.- Liquid Crystal Spatial Light Modulators as Intracavity Laser Elements and Dynamic Holographic Correctors for Distortions in Optical Systems.- Fundamental Issues in Optical Interconnections.- The Electroholographic Optical Switches and Interconnects.- VIVALDI - Variations on a Theme of Optical Crossbars.- Laser-Material Interactions and Optical Storage.- Laser Materials Processing for Optoelectronics and Information Systems.- Recording in Quantum Dot Glasses by Pulsed Laser Irradiation.- Photorefractive Volume Holographic Memories for Associative Storage and Processing in a Multimedia Environment.- Characteristics and Applications of Volume Phase Holographic Gratings Recorded in Photo-Thermo-Refractive Glasses.- Optical Research in Israel.- Electrooptics in Israel.- Author Index.