The 7th International Workshop in the series LASER INTERACTION AND RELATED PLASMA PHENOMENA continued the high standards established by the earlier meetings in this series. It was organized under the directorship of Heinrich Hora and George H. Miley at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, with Fred Schwirzke as the local organizer. These workshops have presented many "firsts" in laser plasma interactions and especially in laser fusion. Some presentations provided continuity with the past, most represented advancements; however, in some workshops, progress did not appear to be occurring as rapidly as in others. Therefore, it was a special pleasure that in the present workshop when, on October 30, 1985, Chiyoe Yamanaka disclosed a breakthrough in the generation of fusion neutrons with laser fusion targets. The 7th Workshop also continued to represent other new fields of laser-plasma interaction. The progress reported was most pronounced in the fields of X-ray lasers, laser acceleration of particles by electrostatic double layers in plasmas, and a particle beam technique to solve the geometric problem of muon-catalyzed fusion.
The development of laser-plasma interactions at medium to high laser intensities may be seen in its whole complexity from a brief review of prior conferences. At the first Workshop in 1969, a comprehensive review of the field was presented by the speakers with the opening address by N.