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POWAG'04 is the fourth in a successful series of summer schools (Vitznau - 1998; Toulon - 2000 and St. Petersburg - 2002), originally focusing on photosensitivity in optical waveguides and glasses. The scope of the Bath school has been broadened to cover areas of modern nano-photonics where waveguides and glasses are used. The main purpose of the school is to introduce PhD students, postdocs and interested scientists to the field of glass-based nano-photonics and its applications and to provide them with an opportunity to meet and discuss with leaders in the field. There will also be an opportunity to present contributed papers, and panel discussions will be arranged around "hot topics" in the field.

The technical sessions of the Summer School will include invited lectures, contributed papers and panel discussions. Our preliminary schedule includes 22 invited lectures and approximately 25 contributed papers (oral and poster).

The contributed papers should cover the following areas:

Photonic crystal fibres (PCF) and photonic crystals
Nonlinear optics in photonic crystals and PCF
Meta-materials and negative index of refraction
Quantum optics in wavelength-scale structures
Near-field optics and nano-optics
Optical trapping of microscopic objects and atoms
Quantum computing and atom chips
High-harmonic generation and extreme nonlinear optics
High power fiber lasers and ultrashort pulse lasers
High energy and power laser light delivery in fibres
Femtosecond direct writing
Fundamental mechanisms of glass photosensitivity
Point defects in pure and doped glasses
New glass types and dopants
Gratings fabrication, characterization and devices
Glass and fiber poling

Glass materials used in optical fibres and planar waveguides do not exhibit a second order nonlinearity. However, through poling it is possible to process fibres and waveguides which can then be exploited in applications such as electrooptical switching and frequency conversion. The European Commission supports a joint effort (the GLAMOROUS project) to demonstrate that poling glass systems can be used in creating new useful devices. A workshop describing advances of the project, ranging from fundamental issues of glass properties and the physics of poling all the way to the construction of real components and their characterisation will take place in connection with POWAG on Sunday, July 11 th. The participants of the POWAG meeting are welcome to attend the workshop, that is free of charge.