This volume focuses on fundamental scientific research behind the use of laser technology and the application of lasers in the treatment and analyses of cultural heritage.

Laser systems and advanced optical techniques offer new solutions for conservation scientists, and provide answers to challenges in Conservation Science. Lasers in the Conservation of Artworks comprises selected contributions from the 7th International Conference on Lasers in the Conservation of Artworks (LACONA VII, Madrid, Spain, 17-21 September

Laser techniques offer possibilities for the examination and conservation of artwork, and for the prevention of cultural heritage. This collection of peer reviewed papers from the 8th International Conference on Lasers in the Conservation of Artworks, Sibiu, Romania, September 21-25, 2009, addresses various aspects of cultural heritage preservation (laser induced phenomenas, laser investigations and recent laboratory studies and onsite applications). The main topics include: – Innovative approaches in laser cleaning researches and instrumentation development; – Laser investigation and diagnostics methods; – Monitoring, imaging and documentation of artwork. Lasers in the Conservation of Artworks VIII will appeal to laser scientists, conservation scientists, scientists in the field of optoelectronics, chemistry, IT and biology, conservators-restorers, architects, art historians, archaeologists, and decision makers in the field of conservation and restoration of artworks.

Light allows us not only to see the works of art, but also to take care of them and preserve them for future generations, through diagnosis of the degradation and deterioration phenomena, conservation treatments, and monitoring based on light-material interaction processes. Recent progress on this subject was discussed during the 13th International Conference on Lasers in the Conservation of Artworks (LACONA XIII, Florence, Italy, 12-16 September 2022). This volume includes selected contributions presented at the conference on preservation topics, photonic techniques, and optimization methods. In particular, the papers focus on the development and use of innovative spectroscopic and imaging characterization techniques, the diagnostic knowledge of important artworks, and the optimization of the laser solution for preserving a growing variety of cultural assets, such as stone and metal artefacts, painted surfaces, textile, feather, and plastic artefacts. Lasers in the Conservation of Artworks XIII aims at scholars and operators of the community of preservation of cultural heritage, at teachers and students of training courses on diagnostic and conservation methods, applied physics, and chemistry, as well as archaeology and art history.

Since 1995, when Costas Fotakis first brought together restorers and scientists to discuss the potential of lasers in art conservation, the field has grown enormously in importance, and today restorers and laser scientists work together to develop new applications. This book presents the more than six dozen research papers prepared for LACONA V (Lasers in Art Conservation), held in Osnabrueck/Germany in September 2003. The fifth congress once again gathered restorers, art historians, museum staff, laser scientists and laser manufacturers. The topics include, among others: laser cleaning of artworks (case studies and side effects), removal of former conservation layers, fundamentals of laser-artwork interaction, online monitoring and process control, laser diagnostics, spectroscopy for monitoring and identification, networks and cooperation projects.