This volume reviews a wide range of processing methods which are currently being used for plastics and composites. Special focus lies on advancements in automation, in development of machines and new software for modeling, new materials for ease in manufacturing and strategies to increase productivity.

The NATO Advanced Research Workshop took place from 29 May to I June 2000 in the picturesque Hungarian town of Pecs, 220 km south of Budapest. The main goal of the workshop was to review and promote experimental and theoretical research on the problem of Kondo-type scatteringofthe electrons in systems ofreduced dimensionalities. 53 regular participants and 7 observers from 17 different countries attended the workshop. The Kondo effect has been a topic ofintense interest for many years, due in part to its relevance to a variety of other branches of condensed matter physics. In addition to the best known example of magnetic impurities in noble metals, the physics of the Kondo effect is important in many areas of current research, including heavy-fermion physics, correlated electron systems, and high-temperature superconductivity. Of central importance in this problem is the interaction of conduction electrons in the metal with individual magnetic impurities, an interaction which also mediates the interaction ofthe impurities with each other.

Carbon nanotubes and graphene have been the subject of intense scientific research since their relatively recent discoveries. This book introduces the reader to the science behind these rapidly developing fields, and covers both the fundamentals and latest advances. Uniquely, this book covers the topics in a pedagogical manner suitable for undergraduate students. The book also uses the simple systems of nanotubes and graphene as models to teach concepts such as molecular orbital theory, tight binding theory and the Laue treatment of diffraction. Suitable for undergraduate students with a working knowledge of basic quantum mechanics, and for postgraduate researchers commencing their studies into the field, this book will equip the reader to critically evaluate the physical properties and potential for applications of graphene and carbon nanotubes.

This work gives a comprehensive overview on materials, processes and technological challenges for electrochemical storage and conversion of energy. Optimization and development of electrochemical cells requires consideration of the cell as a whole, taking into account the complex interplay of all individual components. Considering the availability of resources, their environmental impact and requirements for recycling, the design of new concepts has to be based on the understanding of relevant processes at an atomic level.

Provides a practical, experimentally-driven introduction to the materials science of surfaces and thin films Connects the essential concepts with the variables controlled in a laboratory setting, to aid in understanding experimental design and results Takes a visual approach with many illustrations of experimental deposition and characterization techniques to highlight what happens at the atomic level on surfaces and thin films Includes worked examples and problems at the end of each chapter Gives conceptually clear, mathematically simple explanations

Drawing on the author's practical work from the last 20 years, Techniques in High Pressure Neutron Scattering is one of the first books to gather recent methods that allow neutron scattering well beyond 10 GPa. The author shows how neutron scattering has to be adapted to the pressure range and type of measurement. Suitable for both newcomers and experienced high pressure scientists and engineers, the book describes various solutions spanning two to three orders of magnitude in pressure that have emerged in the past three decades. Many engineering concepts are illustrated through examples of real high pressure devices that have demonstrated their capacity and have produced scientific results. After introducing basic engineering concepts related to the elastic and plastic behavior of cylindrical pressure devices, the text emphasizes mechanical and neutronic properties of construction materials. Subsequent chapters describe numerous high pressure techniques, including liquid/gas, clamp, and McWhan cells. The book also focuses on Paris-Edinburgh devices, high pressure metrology, and scientific applications.

This volume is a selection of invaluable papers by P-G de Gennes - 1991 Nobel Prize winner in Physics - which have had a long-lasting impact on our understanding of condensed matter. Important ideas on polymers, liquid crystals and interfaces are described. The author has added some afterthoughts to the main papers (explaining their successes or weaknesses), and some current views on each special problem. The text is simple and easy to read.

Semiconductor optelectronic devices are at the heart of all information generation and processing systems and are likely to be essential components of future optical computers. With more emphasis on optoelectronics and photonics in graduate programmes in physics and engineering, there is a need for a text providing a basic understanding of the important physical phenomena involved. Such a training is necessary for the design, optimization and search for new materials, devices, and application areas. This book provides a simple quantum mechanical theory of important optical processes, i.e., band-to- band, intersubband and excitonic absorption and recombination in bulk, quantum wells, wires, dots, superlattices and strained layers including electro-optic effects. The classical theory of absorption, quantization of radiation, and band picture based on k.p perturbation has been included to provide the necessary background. Prerequisites for the book are a knowledge of quantum mechanics and solid state theory. Problems have been set at the end of each chapter, some of which may guide the reader to study processes not covered in the book. This book is intended for graduate students in ph

Although elemental semiconductors such as silicon and germanium are standard for energy dispersive spectroscopy in the laboratory, their use for an increasing range of applications is becoming marginalized by their physical limitations, namely the need for ancillary cooling, their modest stopping powers, and radiation intolerance. Compound semiconductors, on the other hand, encompass such a wide range of physical and electronic properties that they have become viable competitors in a number of applications. Compound Semiconductor Radiation Detectors is a consolidated source of information on all aspects of the use of compound semiconductors for radiation detection and measurement. Serious Competitors to Germanium and Silicon Radiation Detectors Wide-gap compound semiconductors offer the ability to operate in a range of hostile thermal and radiation environments while still maintaining sub-keV spectral resolution at X-ray wavelengths. Narrow-gap materials offer the potential of exceeding the spectral resolution of germanium by a factor of three. However, while compound semiconductors are routinely used at infrared and optical wavelengths, their development in other wavebands has been plagued by material and fabrication problems. So far, only a few have evolved sufficiently to produce commercial detection systems. From Crystal Growth to Spectroscopic Performance Bringing together information scattered across many disciplines, this book summarizes the current status of research in compound semiconductor radiation detectors. It examines the properties, growth, and characterization of compound semiconductors as well as the fabrication of radiation sensors, with particular emphasis on the X- and gamma-ray regimes. It explores the limitations of compound semiconductors and discusses current efforts to improve spectral performances, pointing to where future discoveries may lie. A timely resource for the established researcher, this book serves as a comprehensive and illustrated reference on material science, crystal growth, metrology, detector physics, and spectroscopy. It can also be used as a textbook for those new to the field of compound semiconductors and their application to radiation detection and measurement.

These proceedings of the NATO-ARW "Electron transport in nanosystems" held at the "Russia" Hotel, Yalta, Ukraine from 17-21 September 2007 resulted in many discussions between various speakers. The wide range of topics discussed at the Yalta NATO meeting included the new nanodevice applications, novel materials, superconductivity and s- sors. There have been many signi?cant advances in the past 2 years and some entirely new directions of research in these ?elds are just opening up. Recent advances in nanoscience have demonstrated that fundamentally new phy- cal phenomena are found when systems are reduced in size with dimensions, comparable to the fundamental microscopic length scales of the investigated material. Late developments in nanotechnology and measurement techniques now allow experimental investigation of transport properties of nanodevices. Great interest in this research is focused on development of spintronics, molecular electronics and quantum information processing and graphene. At the workshop, important open problems concerning cuprate superconductity, mesoscopic superconductors and novel superconductors such MgB,CeCoIn 2 5 whereconsidered.Therewasmuchdiscussionofthemechanismandsymmetry of pairing for cuprate superconductorsas well as the nature of the pseudogap. In the sessiononnovelsuperconductors,the physicalproperties of MgB were 2 discussed. There were also lively debates about two-gap superconductivity in MgB .

At the interface between chemistry, biology, and physics, fullerenes were one of the first objects to be dissected, scanned, and studied by the modern multi-specialty biotech community and are currently thriving in both research and practical application. Other members of the sp2 nanocarbon family, such as nanotubes and graphene, are currently being studied with the vigor equal to or greater than of the early days of buckminsterfullerene. Fullerenes: Nanochemistry, Nanomagnetism, Nanomedicine, Nanophotonics utilizes a computational platform to embrace two distinguishing fullerene features: odd electrons and exclusive donor-acceptor abilities. The author showcases fullerene nanoscience from a computational viewpoint, intertwining theory and experiment to elucidate key concepts in fullerene science and future avenues of exploration. The author uses fullerene membership in sp2 nanocarbon nanoscience to demonstrate the intimate similarity in the behavior of fullerene, carbon nanotubes, and grapheme. The majority of available books on fullerenes and nanocarbons are collected works and reviews of authors with varying views and interests. While playing a vital role in the developments of nanoscience, these collections do not present a coherent analysis of the status of the field. This book, on the other hand, presents a unified introduction to the multidisciplinary world of fullerene nanoscience based on a single paradigm of concepts, terminology, and ideas. The conceptual approach is accessible, deeply grounded by quantum theory, and easily adapted to both modern computers and the classroom.

Contents: General. Materials: Single Crystals, Ceramics, Polymers, Composites, Polar Glass Ceramics. Measurements and Standards: Constants of Alpha Quartz, Acoustic Microscopy, IEEE Standard. Devices and Applications (16 papers). Appendices. Author Index.

This book introduces the core concepts of the shock wave physics of condensed matter, taking a continuum mechanics approach to examine liquids and isotropic solids. The text primarily focuses on one-dimensional uniaxial compression in order to show the key features of condensed matter's response to shock wave loading. The first four chapters are specifically designed to quickly familiarize physical scientists and engineers with how shock waves interact with other shock waves or material boundaries, as well as to allow readers to better understand shock wave literature, use basic data analysis techniques, and design simple 1-D shock wave experiments. This is achieved by first presenting the steady one-dimensional strain conservation laws using shock wave impedance matching, which insures conservation of mass, momentum and energy. Here, the initial emphasis is on the meaning of shock wave and mass velocities in a laboratory coordinate system. An overview of basic experimental techniques for measuring pressure, shock velocity, mass velocity, compression and internal energy of steady 1-D shock waves is then presented. In the second part of the book, more advanced topics are progressively introduced: thermodynamic surfaces are used to describe equilibrium flow behavior, first-order Maxwell solid models are used to describe time-dependent flow behavior, descriptions of detonation shock waves in ideal and non-ideal explosives are provided, and lastly, a select group of current issues in shock wave physics are discussed in the final chapter.

Liquid Crystal Sensors discusses novel applications of liquid crystals that lie beyond electrically driven optical switches and displays. The main focus is on recent progress in the area of sensors based on low molar mass and polymer liquid crystals. This area of research became "hot" in recent years since the possibilities for applications of liquid crystal sensors are growing in many areas, ranging from the detection of mechanical displacements to the detection of environmental pollutants and chemical agents. This book is well-suited for students, as well as scientists from different backgrounds. For students and researchers new to the field, it gives a thorough introduction. For experienced researchers it shows the latest breakthroughs and serves as an inspiration for solving problems or sparking new ideas. Key Features: Emphasizes how liquid crystals are extremely sensitive to external stimuli and therefore can be used for the construction of stimuli-responsive devices, such as sensors Includes the contributions of editors who are deeply involved in the field and author chapters on hot topics such as the sensitivity of liquid crystals to pollutants, UV light, and strain Provides an exclusive on LC sensors where having the data in one place will be very useful to the community Gives more information on sensors and broadens the scope by having a contributed volume rather than authored Combines recent data on advances in the area of liquid crystal sensors that includes many types of liquid crystal materials

Completely revised and updated, the second edition of the Handbook of Superconductivity is now available in three stand-alone volumes. As a whole they cover the depth and breadth of the field, drawing on an international pool of respected academics and industrial engineers. The three volumes provide hands-on guidance to the manufacturing and processing technologies associated with superconducting materials and devices. A comprehensive reference, the handbook supplies a tutorial on techniques for the beginning graduate student and a source of ancillary information for practicing scientists. The past twenty years have seen rapid progress in superconducting materials, which exhibit one of the most remarkable physical states of matter ever to be discovered. Superconductivity brings quantum mechanics to the scale of the everyday world where a single, coherent quantum state may extend over a distance of metres, or even kilometres, depending on the size of a coil or length of superconducting wire. Viable applications of superconductors rely fundamentally on an understanding of this intriguing phenomena and the availability of a range of materials with bespoke properties to meet practical needs. This first volume covers the fundamentals of superconductivity and the various classes of superconducting materials, which sets the context for volumes 2 and 3. Volume 1 ends with a tutorial on phase diagrams, and a glossary relevant to all 3 volumes.

This book is an in-depth treatment of the theoretical background relevant to an understanding of materials that can be obtained by using high-energy electron diffraction and microscopy.

The Carbon Nanomaterials Sourcebook contains extensive, interdisciplinary coverage of carbon nanomaterials, encompassing the full scope of the field-from physics, chemistry, and materials science to molecular biology, engineering, and medicine-in two comprehensive volumes. Written in a tutorial style, this first volume of the sourcebook: Focuses on graphene, fullerenes, nanotubes, and nanodiamonds Describes the fundamental properties, growth mechanisms, and processing of each nanomaterial discussed Explores functionalization for electronic, energy, biomedical, and environmental applications Showcases materials with exceptional properties, synthesis methods, large-scale production techniques, and application prospects Provides the tools necessary for understanding current and future technology developments, including important equations, tables, and graphs Each chapter is dedicated to a different type of carbon nanomaterial and addresses three main areas: formation, properties, and applications. This setup allows for quick and easy search, making the Carbon Nanomaterials Sourcebook: Graphene, Fullerenes, Nanotubes, and Nanodiamonds, Volume I a must-have reference for scientists and engineers.

21st Century Nanoscience - A Handbook: Nanophotonics, Nanoelectronics, and Nanoplasmonics (Volume 6) will be the most comprehensive, up-to-date large reference work for the field of nanoscience. Handbook of Nanophysics by the same editor published in the fall of 2010 and was embraced as the first comprehensive reference to consider both fundamental and applied aspects of nanophysics. This follow-up project has been conceived as a necessary expansion and full update that considers the significant advances made in the field since 2010. It goes well beyond the physics as warranted by recent developments in the field. This sixth volume in a ten-volume set covers nanophotonics, nanoelectronics, and nanoplasmonics. Key Features: Provides the most comprehensive, up-to-date large reference work for the field. Chapters written by international experts in the field. Emphasises presentation and real results and applications. This handbook distinguishes itself from other works by its breadth of coverage, readability and timely topics. The intended readership is very broad, from students and instructors to engineers, physicists, chemists, biologists, biomedical researchers, industry professionals, governmental scientists, and others whose work is impacted by nanotechnology. It will be an indispensable resource in academic, government, and industry libraries worldwide. The fields impacted by nanophysics extend from materials science and engineering to biotechnology, biomedical engineering, medicine, electrical engineering, pharmaceutical science, computer technology, aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, food science, and beyond.

This book fills a gap between many of the basic solid state physics and materials sciencebooks that are currently available. It is written for a mixed audience of electricalengineering and applied physics students who have some knowledge of elementaryundergraduate quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics. This book, based on asuccessful course taught at MIT, is divided pedagogically into three parts: (I) ElectronicStructure, (II) Transport Properties, and (III) Optical Properties. Each topic is explainedin the context of bulk materials and then extended to low-dimensional materials whereapplicable. Problem sets review the content of each chapter to help students to understandthe material described in each of the chapters more deeply and to prepare them to masterthe next chapters.

Cryogen-free cryogenics is leading a revolution in research and industry by its significant advantages over traditional liquid helium systems. This is the first overview for the field, covering the key technologies, conceptual design, fabrication, operation, performance, and applications of these systems. The contents cover important topics such as the operating principles of 4 K cryocoolers, enabling technologies (including vibration reduction) for cryogen-free systems, the cryogen-free superconducting magnet, and cryogen-free systems that reach millikelvin. It highlights the wide range of applications in materials science, quantum physics, astronomy and space science, medical sciences, etc. Key features: * Introduces technologies and practical know-how employed for cryogen-free systems of using 4 K cryocoolers to replace liquid helium * Addresses state-of-the-art of cryogen-free superconducting magnets, subkelvin refrigeration systems of the He-3 sorption cooler, adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR) and dilution refrigerators (DR) * Discusses applications of cryogen-free systems in modern instruments and equipment

The subject of low-energy excitations has evolved since two-level-tunneling systems were first proposed ~50 years ago. Initially they were used to explain the common anomalous properties of oxide glasses and polymers; now the subject includes a wide range of other materials containing disorder: amorphous semiconductors and metals, doped- mixed- and quasi-crystals, surface adsorbates, ... and topics such as dephasing of quantum states and interferometer noise. A fairly simple empirical description using a remarkably small range of parameters serves well to describe the effect of these excitations, but the structures causing these effects are known in only a few materials and the reasons for their similarity across disparate materials has only been qualitatively addressed.This book provides a unified, comprehensive description of tunneling systems in disordered solids suitable for graduate students/researchers wishing an introduction to the field. Its focus is on the tunneling systems intrinsic to glassy solids. It describes the experimental observations of 'glassy' properties, develops the basic empirical tunneling model, and discusses the dynamics changes on cooling to temperatures where direct excitation interactions become important and on heating to where tunneling gives way to thermal activation. Finally, it discusses how theories of glass formation can help us understand the ubiquity of these excitations.The Development of the basic tunneling model is the core of the book and is worked out in considerable detail. To keep the total within bounds of our expertise and the readers' patience, many related experimental and theoretical developments are only sketched out here; the text is heavily cited to allow readers to follow their specific interests in much more depth.

An Introduction to High-Pressure Science and Technology provides you with an understanding of the connections between the different areas involved in the multidisciplinary science of high pressure. The book reflects the deep interdisciplinary nature of the field and its close relationship with industrial applications. Thirty-nine specialists in high-pressure research guide you through the process of learning why pressure is considered a powerful scientific and technological tool, how pressure can be introduced into the laboratory, and which problems can be solved using this thermodynamic variable. The book presents basic thermodynamic equations and state-of-the-art computational tools. It shows how many experimental techniques, when combined with pressure, are powerful sources of information for understanding natural phenomena and reveal clear paths for the design of novel materials. The book also addresses the responses of microorganisms, Earth constituents, and icy planets to pressure.

This book presents, in the form of reviews by world's leading physicists in wide-ranging fields in theoretical physics, the influence and prescience of Skyrme's daring idea of 1960, originally conceived for nuclear physics, that fermions can arise from bosons via topological solitons, pervasively playing a powerful role in wide-ranging areas of physics, from nuclear/astrophysics, to particle physics, to string theory and to condensed matter physics.The skyrmion description, both from gauge theory and from gauge/gravity duality, offers solutions to some long-standing and extremely difficult problems at high baryonic density, inaccessible by QCD proper. It also offers explanations and makes startling predictions for fascinating new phenomena in condensed matter systems. In both cases, what is at the core is the topology although the phenomena are drastically different, even involving different spacetime dimensions.This second edition has been expanded with addition of new reviews and extensively updated to take into account the latest developments in the field.

This book presents the wide range of topics in two-dimensional physics of quantum Hall systems, especially fractional quantum Hall states. It covers the fundamental problems of two-dimensional quantum statistics in terms of topology and the corresponding braid group formalism for composite fernions, and the main formalism used in many-body quantum Hall theories, the Chern-Simons theory. Numerical studies are introduced for spherical systems and the composite fermion theory is tested. The book introduces the concept of the hierarchy of condensed states, the BCS paired Hall state, and multi-component quantum Hall systems and spin quantum Hall systems.

Covers the State of the Art in Superfluidity and Superconductivity Superfluid States of Matter addresses the phenomenon of superfluidity/superconductivity through an emergent, topologically protected constant of motion and covers topics developed over the past 20 years. The approach is based on the idea of separating universal classical-field superfluid properties of matter from the underlying system's "quanta." The text begins by deriving the general physical principles behind superfluidity/superconductivity within the classical-field framework and provides a deep understanding of all key aspects in terms of the dynamics and statistics of a classical-field system. It proceeds by explaining how this framework emerges in realistic quantum systems, with examples that include liquid helium, high-temperature superconductors, ultra-cold atomic bosons and fermions, and nuclear matter. The book also offers several powerful modern approaches to the subject, such as functional and path integrals. Comprised of 15 chapters, this text: Establishes the fundamental macroscopic properties of superfluids and superconductors within the paradigm of the classical matter field Deals with a single-component neutral matter field Considers fundamentals and properties of superconductors Describes new physics of superfluidity and superconductivity that arises in multicomponent systems Presents the quantum-field perspective on the conditions under which classical-field description is relevant in bosonic and fermionic systems Introduces the path integral formalism Shows how Feynman path integrals can be efficiently simulated with the worm algorithm Explains why nonsuperfluid (insulating) ground states of regular and disordered bosons occur under appropriate conditions Explores superfluid solids (supersolids) Discusses the rich dynamics of vortices and various aspects of superfluid turbulence at T 0 Provides account of BCS theory for the weakly interacting Fermi gas Highlights and analyzes the most crucial developments that has led to the current understanding of superfluidity and superconductivity Reviews the variety of superfluid and superconducting systems available today in nature and the laboratory, as well as the states that experimental realization is currently actively pursuing