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.).
Cathodic Arcs : From Fractal Spots to Energetic Condensation
Cathodic Arcs: From Fractal Spots to Energetic Condensation is the first book in over a decade dedicated to the physics and technology of cathodic arcs. It includes a detailed account of arc history, a textbook-like introduction to cathode phenomena, and some basic physics of expanding plasmas; it deals with the infamous macroparticle issue and describes a host of practical plasma filter solutions. In contrast to previous books on cathodic arcs, the focus is on the relation of arc plasmas and their properties to surface modification and thin film deposition. The book contains sections on basic plasma physics and thin film materials science. It also deals with practical issues of coatings such as stress control and the often-underrated issue of the coating’s color. By stressing the fractal nature of cathode spots, the theme of fluctuations can be found throughout the book: fluctuations affect all plasma properties and thereby have consequences for plasma-based surface modifications and film growth.
Ageing and the Glass Transition
Understanding cooperative phenomena far from equilibrium is one of fascinating challenges of present-day many-body physics. Glassy behaviour and the physical ageing process of such materials are paradigmatic examples. The present volume, primarily intended as introduction and reference for postgraduate students and nonspecialist researchers from related fields, collects six extensive lectures addressing selected experimental and theoretical issues in the field of glassy systems.
Advanced computer simulation approaches for soft matter sciences I
Soft matter science is nowadays an acronym for an increasingly important class of materials, which ranges from polymers, liquid crystals, colloids up to complex macromolecular assemblies, covering sizes from the nanoscale up the microscale. Computer simulations have proven as an indispensable, if not the most powerful, tool to understand properties of these materials and link theoretical models to experiments. In this first volume of a small series recognized leaders of the field review advanced topics and provide critical insight into the state-of-the-art methods and scientific questions of this lively domain of soft condensed matter research.






