Accelerators and lasers as sources of pulsed excitation present status

The past quarter of a century has seen considerable improvement in time resolution for pulse radiolysis and laser photolysis experiments, made possible by advanced excitation sources. To document the present status, three installations for pulse radiolysis are discussed: a picosecond linac (Tokyo), a nanosecond Van de Graaff (Delft), and a high current accelerator (ód). Also indicated are future experimental possibilities, in particular the use of a high current photoemission electron gun. Available lasers for excitation with nanosecond pulses are summarized and a picosecond facility which permits optical and conductivity observations with subnanosecond time resolution is described.