Nuclear fusion research : Understanding plasma-Surface interactions
It became clear in the early days of fusion research that the effects of the containment vessel (erosion of "impurities") degrade the overall fusion plasma performance. Progress in controlled nuclear fusion research over the last decade has led to magnetically confined plasmas that, in turn, are sufficiently powerful to damage the vessel structures over its lifetime. This book reviews current understanding and concepts to deal with this remaining critical design issue for fusion reactors. It reviews both progress and open questions, largely in terms of available and sought-after plasma-surface interaction data and atomic/molecular data related to these "plasma edge" issues.
Non-Linear Optical Properties of Matte : From molecules to condensed phases
Non-Linear Optical Properties of Matter: From Molecules to Condensed Phases attempts to draw together both theory and application in this field. As such it will be of interest to both experimentalists and theoreticians alike. Divided into two parts, Part 1 is concerned with the theory and computing of non-linear optical (NLO) properties while Part 2 reviews the latest developments in experimentation.This book will be invaluable to researchers and students in academia and industry. It will be of particular interest to anyone involved in materials science, theoretical and computational chemistry, chemical physics, and molecular physics.
Nanostructured Soft Matter : Experiment, Theory, Simulation and Perspectives
This book provides an interdisciplinary overview of a new and broad class of materials under the unifying name Nanostructured Soft Matter. It covers materials ranging from short amphiphilic molecules to block copolymers, proteins, colloids and their composites, microemulsions and bio-inspired systems.
Multiscale Dissipative Mechanisms and Hierarchical Surfaces : Friction, Superhydrophobicity, and Biomimetics
Multiscale Dissipative Mechanisms and Hierarchical Surfaces covers the rapidly developing topics of hierarchical surfaces, roughness-induced superhydrophobicity and biomimetic surfaces. The research in these topics has been progressing rapidly in the recent years due to the advances in the nanosciences and surfaces science and due to potential applications in nanotechnology. The first in its field, this monograph provides a comprehensive review of these subject and presents the background introduction as well as recent and new results in the area.
Modeling of Soft Matter
Soft matter plays a role in a wide variety of important processes and application. For example, gel swelling and dynamics are an essential part of many biological and individual processes, such as motility mechanisms in bacteria and the transport and absorption of drugs. Ferroelectrics, liquid crystals, and elastomers are being used to design ever faster switching devices. Experimental studies, such as scattering, optical and electron microscopy, have provided a great deal of detailed information on structures. But the integration of mathematical modeling and analysis with experimental approaches promises to greatly increase our understanding of structure-property relationships and constitutive equations. The workshop on Modeling of Soft Matter has taken such an integrated approach.
Micro- and opto-electronic materials and Structures : Physics, mechanics, design, reliability, packaging ; Vol. I : Materials physics - materials mechanics ; Vol. II : Physical design - reliability and packaging
Micro- and Opto-Electronic Materials and Structures: Physics, Mechanics, Design, Reliability, Packaging is the first comprehensive reference to collect and present the most, up-to-date, in-depth, practical and easy-to-use information on the physics, mechanics, reliability and packaging of micro- and opto-electronic materials, assemblies, structures and systems. The chapters in these two volumes contain summaries of the state-of-the-art and present new information on recently developed important methods or devices. Furthermore, practical recommendations are offered on how to successfully apply current knowledge and recently developed technology to design, manufacture and operate viable, reliable and cost-effective electronic components or photonic devices. The emphasis is on the science and engineering of electronic and photonic packaging, on physical design problems, challenges and solutions.
Interfacial Transport Phenomena
This is an extensively revised second edition of Interfacial Transport Phenomena, a unique presentation of transport phenomena or continuum mechanics focused on momentum, energy, and mass transfer at interfaces. In addition to tightening the focus of the book there are two important additions: an extended discussion of transport phenomena at common lines or three-phase lines of contact, as well as a new theory for the extension of continuum mechanics to the nanoscale region immediately adjacent to the interface. Applications and supporting experimental data are provided and discussed in detail. This book is written for the advanced student of transport phenomena. The emphasis is upon achieving an in-depth understanding based upon first principles. It is designed to prepare the reader for active research. It includes exercises and answers, and can serve as a graduate level textbook.
Information and self-organization : A macroscopic approach to complex systems
This book presents the concepts needed to deal with self-organizing complex systems from a unifying point of view that uses macroscopic data. The various meanings of the concept "information" are discussed and a general formulation of the maximum information (entropy) principle is used. With the aid of results from synergetics, adequate objective constraints for a large class of self-organizing systems are formulated and examples are given from physics, life and computer science. The relationship to chaos theory is examined and it is further shown that, based on possibly scarce and noisy data, unbiased guesses about processes of complex systems can be made and the underlying deterministic and random forces determined. This allows for probabilistic predictions of processes, with applications to numerous fields in science, technology, medicine and economics. The extensions of the third edition are essentially devoted to an introduction to the meaning of information in the quantum context. Indeed, quantum information science and technology is presently one of the most active fields of research at the interface of physics, technology and information sciences and has already established itself as one of the major future technologies for processing and communicating information on any scale.
Forces, Growth and Form in Soft Condensed Matter : At the Interface between Physics and Biology
This volume comprises the proceedings of a NATO Advanced Study Institute held at Geilo, Norway, 24 March - 3 April 2003, the seventeenth ASI in a series held every two years since 1971. The objective of this ASI was to identify and discuss areas where synergism between modern physics, soft condensed matter and biology might be most fruitful. The main pedagogical approach was to have lecturers focussing on basic understanding of important aspects of the relative role of the various interaction- electrostatic, hydrophobic, steric, conformational, van der Waals etc. Soft condensed matter and the connection between physics and biology have been the themes of several earlier Geilo Schools. A return to these subjects thus allowed a fresh look and a possibility for defining new directions for research. Examples of soft materials, which were discussed at this ASI, included colloidal dispersions, gels, biopolymers and charged polymer solutions, polyelectrolytes, protein/membrane complexes, nucleic acids and their complexes. Indeed, most forms of condensed matter are soft and these substances are composed of aggregates and macromolecules, with interactions that are too weak and complex to form crystals spontaneously. A characteristic feature is that small external forces, slight perturbations in temperature, pressure or concentration, can all be enough to induce significant structural changes. Thermal fluctuations are almost by definition strong in soft materials and entropy is a predominant determinant of structure, so that disorder, slow dynamics and plastic deformation are the rule. Hence the phrase ‘soft condensed matter’ has been coined.
Ferroelectric Thin Films : Basic Properties and Device Physics for Memory Applications
Ferroelectric thin films continue to attract much attention due to their developing, diverse applications in memory devices, FeRAM, infrared sensors, piezoelectric sensors and actuators. This book, aimed at students, researchers and developers, gives detailed information about the basic properties of these materials and the associated device physics. All authors are acknowledged experts in the field.
Evolution of Thin Film Morphology : Modeling and Simulations
Thin film deposition is the most ubiquitous and critical of the processes used to manufacture high tech devices. Morphology and microstructure of thin films directly controls their optical, magnetic, and electrical properties. This book focuses on modeling and simulations used in research on the morphological evolution during film growth. The authors emphasize the detailed mathematical formulation of the problem both through numerical calculations based on Langevin continuum equations, and through Monte Carlo simulations based on discrete surface growth models when an analytical formulism is not convenient. Evolution of Thin-Film Morphology will be of benefit to university researchers and industrial scientists working in the areas of semiconductor processing, optical coating, plasma etching, patterning, micro-machining, polishing, tribology, and any discipline that requires an understanding of thin film growth processes.
Equilibrium statistical physics : Phases of matter and phase transitions
This is a textbook which gradually introduces the student to the statistical mechanical study of the different phases of matter and to the phase transitions between them. Throughout, only simple models of both ordinary and soft matter are used but these are studied in full detail. The subject is developed in a pedagogical manner, starting from the basics, going from the simple ideal systems to the interacting systems, and ending with the more modern topics. The latter include the renormalisation group approach to critical phenomena, the density functional theory of interfaces, the topological defects of nematic liquid crystals and the kinematic aspects of the phase transformation process. This textbook provides the student with a complete overview, intentionally at an introductory level, of the theory of phase transitions. References include suggestions for more detailed treatments and four appendices supply overviews of the mathematical tools employed in the text.
Electron Scattering in Solid Matte r: A Theoretical and Computational Treatise
Addressing graduate students and researchers, this book gives a very detailed theoretical and computational description of multiple scattering in solid matter. Particular emphasis is placed on solids with reduced dimensions, on full potential approaches and on relativistic treatments. For the first time approaches such as the Screened Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker method that have emerged during the last 5 – 10 years are reviewed, considering all formal steps such as single-site scattering, structure constants and screening transformations, and also the numerical point of view. Furthermore, a very general approach is presented for solving the Poisson equation, needed within density functional theory in order to achieve self-consistency. Going beyond ordered matter and translationally invariant systems, special chapters are devoted to the Coherent Potential Approximation and to the Embedded Cluster Method, used, for example, for describing nanostructured matter in real space. In a final chapter, physical properties related to the (single-particle) Green’s function, such as magnetic anisotropies, interlayer exchange coupling, electric and magneto-optical transport and spin-waves, serve to illustrate the usefulness of the methods described.
Electrical Resistivity of Thin Metal Films
The aim of the book is to give an actual survey on the resistivity of thin metal and semiconductor films interacting with gases. We discuss the influence of the substrate material and the annealing treatment of the films, presenting our experimental data as well as theoretical models to calculate the scattering cross section of the conduction electrons in the frame-work of the scattering hypothesis.
Computer simulations in condensed matter : From materials to chemical biology ; Vol.1
This extensive and comprehensive collection of lectures by world-leading experts in the field introduces and reviews all relevant computer simulation methods and their applications in condensed matter systems. Volume 1 is an in-depth introduction to a vast spectrum of computational techniques for statistical mechanical systems of condensed matter. It will enable the graduate student and both the specialist and nonspecialist researcher to get acquainted with the tools necessary to carry out numerical simulations at an advanced level. Volume 2 published as LNP 704 (ISBN 3-540-35283-X) is a collection of state-of-the-art surveys on numerical experiments carried out for a great number of systems, ranging from materials sciences to chemical biology.
Computer simulation studies in condensed-matter physics XVI ; Proceedings of the Seventeenth Workshop, Athens, GA, USA, February 16-20, 2004
This status report features the most recent developments in the field, spanning a wide range of topical areas in the computer simulation of condensed matter/materials physics. Both established and new topics are included, ranging from the statistical mechanics of classical magnetic spin models to electronic structure calculations, quantum simulations, and simulations of soft condensed matter. The book presents new physical results as well as novel methods of simulation and data analysis. Highlights of this volume include various aspects of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, studies of properties of real materials using both classical model simulations and electronic structure calculations, and the use of computer simulations in teaching.
Light Scattering in Solids IX : Novel Materials and Techniques
Reviews recent developments concerning mainly semiconductor nanostructures and inelastic x-ray scattering, including both coherent time-domain and spontaneous scattering studies.
Kinetics of Water-Rock Interaction
Systems at the surface of the Earth are continually responding to energy inputs derived from solar radiation or from the radiogenic heat in the interior. These energy inputs drive plate movements and erosion, exposing metastable mineral phases at the Earth’s surface. In addition, these energy fluxes are harvested and transformed by living organisms. As long as these processes persist, chemical disequilibrium at the Earth’s surface will be perpetuated. Chemical disequilibrium is also driven by human activities related to production of food, extraction of water and energy resources, and burial of wastes. To understand how the surface of the Earth will change over time, we must understand the rates at which reactions occur and the chemical feedbacks that relate these reactions across extreme temporal and spatial scales. This book addresses fundamental and applied questions concerning the rates of water-rock interactions driven by tectonic, climatic, and anthropogenic forcings.
Classical Nucleation Theory in Multicomponent Systems
Nucleation is the initial step of every first-order phase transition, and most phase transitions encountered both in everyday life and industrial processes are of the first-order. Using an elegant classical theory based on thermodynamics and kinetics, this book provides a fully detailed picture of multi-component nucleation. As many of the issues concerning multi-component nucleation theory have been solved during the last 10-15 years, it also thoroughly integrates both fundamental theory with recent advances presented in the literature. It covered are: the basic relevant thermodynamics and statistical physics; modelling a molecular cluster as a spherical liquid droplet; predicting the size and composition of the nucleating critical clusters; kinetic models for cluster growth and decay; calculating nucleation rates; and a full derivation and application of nucleation theorems that can be used to extract microscopic cluster properties from nucleation rate measurements.
Classical and Advanced Theories of Thin Structures : Mechanical and Mathematical Aspects
The book presents an updated state-of-the-art overview of the general aspects and practical applications of the theories of thin structures, through the interaction of several topics, ranging from non-linear thin-films, shells, junctions, beams of different materials and in different contexts (elasticity, plasticity, etc.).



















