The 16th IQEC (IQEC '88) was held from 18 to 21 July 1988 at the Keio Plaza Hotel, Tokyo, Japan. It was chaired by K. Shimoda, Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo, and organized by the Japan Society of Applied Physics. The International Joint Council on Quantum Electronics, composed of Japanese, North American, Australasian, Chinese, European and Soviet subcommittees, was organized to select papers to be presented at IQEC '88. Altogether, 378 papers were presented, including 4 plenary lectures, 78 invited presentations and 32 post-deadline papers. Oral presentations were given in four to five parallel sessions, and two sessions were organized for poster presentations. The conference was attended by 869 participants from 26 countries.