We consider the collisions of plane gravitational and electromagnetic waves
with distinct wavefronts and of arbitrary polarizations in a Minkowski
background. We first present a new, completely geometric formulation of the
characteristic initial value problem for solutions in the wave interaction
region for which initial data are those associated with the approaching waves.
We present also a general approach to the solution of this problem which
enables us in principle to construct solutions in terms of the specified
initial data. This is achieved by re-formulating the nonlinear dynamical
equations for waves in terms of an associated linear problem on the spectral
plane. A system of linear integral ``evolution'' equations which solve this
spectral problem for specified initial data is constructed. It is then
demonstrated explicitly how various colliding plane wave space-times can be
constructed from given characteristic initial data.Comment: 33 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX. Accepted for publication in Classical and
Quantum Gravit