ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First and foremost, I wish to thank the 30 authors of the 19 individual chapters fortheir excellent contributions. It is a delight to see so much spectroscopy gatheredtogether in one volume. I also wish to thank my own students, post docs, andvisiting professors, past and present, for all of their achievements in our laboratoriesover the years. Last but not least, I would like to thank Linda Redd for her efficientand outstanding assistance in working with all of the authors and helping to get thematerial into its final form.

Jaan LaaneJuly 2008

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