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This article reports that more than 90 participants from Europe, the U.S. and Japan gathered from April 27 to 29, 2005, in Berlin, Germany, to hold a lively international meeting on time-resolved soft X-ray science. The meeting continued the series of preceding workshops held in 2002 in Napa, California and in 2003 in Montreux, Switzerland. The aim of the workshop was to bring together the existing ultrafast laser community and the emerging ultrafast X-ray community in order lo discuss recent scientific highlights from both fields and to outline new directions for the application of ultrafast X-rays. In turn, it was hoped that this would help define the source characteristics of future ultrafast X-ray sources such as X-ray Free Electron Lasers.

Russia, Sweden, and Germany are enhancing their scientific cooperation, particularly in the exploitation of modern X-ray and neutron facilities for the design of advanced materials. The three countries are striving to become an international powerhouse in the use of advanced X-ray and Neutron Facilities in materials science. With upcoming facilities including the European XFEL in Hamburg, the ESS and MAX-IV in Lund as well as the upgraded neutron reactor PIK in St. Petersburg, the Baltic region will significantly strengthen its analytical research capabilities over the next decade. Two strategic cooperation platforms have been launched with strong support by national funding agencies, the Röntgen-Angstrom Cluster (RAC) between Germany and Sweden and the Ioffe-Röntgen-Institute (IRI) between Germany and the Russian Federation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]