Preface: phys. stat. sol. (c) 4/10
Authors: Knights Andy , Mascher Peter , Simpson Peter 
Published: September 2007

The 14th International Conference on Positron Annihilation (ICPA 14) was held at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada from 23 to 28 July 2006. The ICPA series of meetings, which take place every three years, provide an opportunity for exchange of research ideas and results for those who work with positrons. Over two hundred researchers participated in ICPA 14, reporting work performed in eighteen countries. This is an indication of the truly global nature of positron research and one which suggests that the field remains healthy and vibrant. Further evidence is provided by this issue, which contains details of the varied and high quality work currently in progress in positron laboratories around the world.

Positron research has been conducted in Canada for over five decades and we were delighted to welcome two positron pioneers to ICPA 14 – Prof. Alec T. Stewart and Prof. Innes K. MacKenzie who acted as Honorary co‐Chairs. We thank them for agreeing to be associated with this conference. We were also pleased that another positron pioneer, Prof. Jules Carbotte joined us at the conference banquet.

We are grateful to all the contributors to ICPA, but in particular our thanks go to the seven plenary and twenty invited speakers who provided illuminating and thoughtful overviews of their work. In addition to these, there were 62 contributed talks and 130 poster presentations. We were particularly delighted at the success of the poster session. The quality of the presented work, coupled with the enthusiastic exchange of ideas, showed how valuable such a forum can be, particularly for the younger participants of a conference. The excellence of the student presentations was acknowledged by the award of prizes for best student oral presentation and best student poster. The deliberation of the judges took a great deal of time and they engaged in long and careful consideration. Congratulations and monetary prizes were received by Martin Stadlbauer and Takeshi Toyama for best oral and poster presentation, respectively. Honourable mentions and monetary prizes were received by Carlos Palacio, Maria Okuniewski, Nathan Potter and Sam Townrow.

The social program proved equally successful. The conference excursion was a full afternoon and evening visit to Niagara Falls and a local winery. The quality of the final evening banquet, held at Liuna Station, was excellent. The conference participants were entertained at the banquet by local First Nation dancers who provided a colourful and energetic taste of Canadian culture.

We would like to thank everyone who contributed to the success of the conference – those who participated and made contributions; the session chairs; those who carefully refereed the papers submitted to the proceedings; the student volunteers from McMaster University who ensured the presentation sessions ran smoothly and who faithfully staffed the ICPA help desk throughout the week; the staff of McMaster Conference Services for their help with the organization of accommodation and food. We are very grateful to those who provided sponsorship for the conference – The Centre for Emerging Device Technologies at McMaster University; The Faculty of Engineering of McMaster University; Fuji iMvac Inc.; Canberra Canada; Newport Canada; Johnsen Ultravac; and Gamble Technologies Ltd. Finally, a special mention should be made of Mrs. Linda Wilson and Ms. Trish Laurie who strived without complaint to make this conference a success – it was an absolute pleasure to have worked with you!

We end this preface by wishing those organizing ICPA 15 all the best for a successful conference. We look forward to seeing you all in India in 2009.

Very best regards to you all.

July 2007