Web of Conferences is delighted to announce the online publication of API'09 proceedings. Organised by the Laboratory of Physics and Interfaces and Thin Films (LPICM), API'09 was hosted in the Ecole Polytechnique in Palaiseau (France), from 7 to 9 December 2009.

The workshop was founded by the European project Nanocharm the aim of which is, firstly to coordinate research activities focusing on the characterization of materials using polarized light (polarimetry) and, secondly to develop communication initiatives to make scientists, decision-makers in the broadest sense of the term, industrialists and students aware of the various applications of polarized light.