Foreword

This Workshop has been in the making for over two years from the first time that Prof. Silvano Donati asked me to host the 7^th International Workshop on Fibre Optics and Passive Components (WFOPC2011) in Montreal, the first time ever in North America. It seemed far away at that time, but it was soon realised that the Conference calendar for the months of May–July were extremely crowded. After a couple of false starts and reiteration with organizing colleagues in its planning, we soon settled on the final dates of 13–15 July 2011, to be immediately followed by meeting on Nonlinear Optics in Hawaii (17–22 July 2011) and the IEEE Summer Topical on Mid-IR Fibres also in Montreal (18–20 July 2011). Although holding a meeting collocated with another seems attractive at first, however, neither benefit due to divided attention and conflicting programs, especially if the venues are at different locations in the city. It was thus decided that these would run sequentially and the same model has been applied to the program of WFOPC2011, with sequential deliveries of invited talks to give the presenters the undivided attention of the attendees.