Symposium M of the 1998 annual meeting of the European Materials Research Society has been devoted to Molecular Photonics for Optical Communications: Materials, Physics and Device Technology. It was held in Strasbourg from 15-19 June, building on the sizable success of the former symposium Molecular Electronics and Photonics, held during the last 1997 E-MRS meeting. A total of 42 oral and 36 poster presentations were delivered at this symposium. A most remarkable common feature to almost all papers presented concerned a very broad approach which was given to this particular...