This book is intended for scientists and engineers planning and building high-power electrical and optical systems, for programme managers of new systems that need high-power, high-speed switching and for physics and elecrtrical engineering university libraries. This text covers research and development in high-power, high-speed and optically-activated switches. It provides in-depth treatment of silicon and GaAs, linear and nonlinear high-gain photoconductive semiconductor switching, plus information on new applications such as multimegavolt, multimega-amp pulsed-power systems.