This book contains contributions to the 172. WE-Heraeus-Seminar "Atoms and Molecules in Strong External Fields," which took place April 7-11 1997 at the Phys- zentrum Bad Honnef (Germany). The designation "strong fields" applies to external static magnetic, and/or electric fields that are sufficiently intense to cause alterations in the atomic or molecular str- ture and dynamics. The specific topics treated are the behavior and properties of atoms in strong static fields, the fundamental aspects and electronic structure of molecules in strong magnetic fields, the dynamics and aspects of chaos in highly excited R- berg atoms in external fields, matter in the atmosphere of astrophysical objects (white dwarfs, neutron stars), and quantum nanostructures in strong magnetic fields. It is obvious that the elaboration of the corresponding properties in these regimes causes the greatest difficulties, and is incomplete even today. Present-day technology has made it possible for many research groups to study the behavior of matter in strong external fields, both experimentally and theore- cally, where the phrase "experimentally" includes the astronomical observations. - derstanding these systems requires the development of modern theories and powerful computational techniques. Interdisciplinary collaborations will be helpful and useful in developing more efficient methods to understand these important systems. Hence the idea was to bring together people from different fields like atomic and molecular physics, theoretical chemistry, astrophysics and all those colleagues interested in aspects of few-body systems in external fields.

A uniquely practical book, this monograph is the first to describe basic and applied spectroscopic techniques for the study of physical processes in high frequency, electrodeless discharge lamps. Special attention is given to the construction and optimization of these lamps, a popular source of line spectra and an important tool in ultraprecise optical engineering. Highlights include discussions of: high precision measurements of gas pressures spectral source lifespan and more.

This book presents recent results of basic research in the field of Raman scattering by optic and acoustic phonons in semiconductors, quantum wells and superlattices. It also describes various new applications for analytical materials research which have emerged alongside with scientific progress. Trends in Raman techniques and instrumentation and their implications for future developments are illustrated.

Catalytic reactions on metals are still nowadays involved in more than half of the chemical industrial processes. The winter school held at "I 'Ecole de in March 1996, 13 years after the first one, accounts Physique des Houches" for an evolution of the field in several directions. First, the emulation between theoretical chemistry and solid state physics has emerged on heuristic concepts, leading not only to explanations of the observed phenomena but, for the first time, to predictions of the reactivity of catalytic systems and of the reaction pathways. The second domain which during these years has become of primary importance is the abatement of the pollution. It concerns not only the conversion of polluting effluents but more and more major modifications of the processes to avoid the production of undesired products. Two striking examples are the necessary catalytic conversion of the 100 000 cubic meter of hydrogen that would be produced in a major incident of a nuclear power plant and the replacement of the CFC. The valorization of agricultural supplies can already be considered as one of the major achievement of catalysis. Indeed, the carbon of biosustainable raw materials represents more than 2 orders of magnitude the amount extracted from fossil fuels each year. Moreover, the molecules are already highly functionalised in contrast with hydrocarbons which require costly steps to be converted to the same products. They are now of current use in the elaboration of cosmetics, vitamins, polymers, etc.

Ongoing developments in nanofabrication technology and the availability of novel materials have led to the emergence and evolution of new topics for mesoscopic research, including scanning-tunnelling microscopic studies of few-atom metallic clusters, discrete energy level spectroscopy, the prediction of Kondo-type physics in the transport properties of quantum dots, time dependent effects, and the properties of interacting systems, e.g. of Luttinger liquids. The overall understanding of each of these areas is still incomplete; nevertheless, with the foundations laid by studies in the more traditional systems there is no doubt that these new areas will advance mesoscopic electron transport to a new phenomenological level, both experimentally and theoretically. Mesoscopic Electron Transport highlights selected areas in the field, provides a comprehensive review of such systems, and also serves as an introduction to the new and developing areas of mesoscopic electron transport.

This volume contains four sections in addition to the previous sections of electrodynamics II, which were concerned with the two-particle problem, and applications to hydrogenic atoms, positronium, and muonium. Although the major objective here is an improved treatment of the electron magnetic moment, attention is also given to the effect of string magnetic fields, to an extended treatment of photon propagation function, and to a confrontational discussion on the pion decay into two photons.

A detailed presentation of the physics of the various hysteresis models that are currently used to explain the magnetization reversal process, including coherent and incoherent magnetization processes, micromagnetism and its application in thin films, multilayers, nanowires, particles and bulk magnets, domain wall pinning and domain wall dynamics, and Preisach modelling. Some of the faulty concepts and interpretations that still exist in the literature are rectified. Magnetic imaging techniques are reviewed, including TEM, SEM, magnetic force microscopy, and optical microscopy. Temperature, field and angular dependence of coercivity, magnetic interactions and magnetic phenomena are reviewed and their effect on magnetic hysteresis is discussed. The magnetic properties of novel materials are discussed, including nanoparticles, nanocrystalline granular solids, particulate media, thin films, and bulk magnets. Finally, present and future applications of novel materials are presented, including magnetic and magneto-optic recording media, magneto-electronics, sensors, magnetic circuit design, and novel structures created from rigid, high-energy permanent magnets.

Microwave Physics and Techniques discusses the modelling and application of nonlinear microwave circuits and the problems of microwave electrodynamics and applications of magnetic and high Tc superconductor structures. Aspects of advanced methods for the structural investigation of materials and of MW remote sensing are also considered. The dual focus on both HTSC MW device physics and MW excitation in ferrites and magnetic films will foster the interaction of specialists in these different fields.

This book presents Maxwell's equations and the laws of classical electromagnetism starting from the equations for the electric and magnetic fields due to an accelerating classical point charge. A microscopic perspective is used to interpret the electric field due to a current element, the origin of induced electromagnetic fields and detached electric field lines, motional electromagnetic fields, the mode of action of inductors and capacitors in AC circuits, conduction current flow, the Biot-Savart law, etc. A review of energy methods is presented in a way consistent with this microscopic approach, leading up to discussions of the conservation laws for a system of spatially separated moving charges and the Poynting vector hypothesis. After extending Maxwell's equations to field points inside dielectrics and magnetic materials, a brief review of special relativity is given stressing those topics that illustrate the essential unity of classical electromagnetism and special relativity. Audience: This textbook is designed to be used between a course in classical electromagnetism in which vector analysis has been introduced, and an advanced graduate course in electromagnetism. It will also be of interest to research physicists and to graduate students as a complement to more traditional courses.

Market: Scientists, engineers, and graduate students in atomic physics, astrophysics, spectroscopy, atmospheric and solid state physics, and semiconductor research. Drawn from the author's lectures to undergraduates at Oxford University, this 1955 work features probing analyses of many problems in atomic physics, plasma physics, spectroscopy, atmospheric and solid state physics. By emphasizing fundamental concepts and the limitations of treatments rather than the details of theories, this book has become a valued reference tool both in academia and among professionals in the scientific community.

Market: Students in undergraduate courses in electromagnetism. This innovative textbook provides students with a modern view of the unity of electromagnetism by forsaking the traditional historically ordered development for a more logically ordered one. This approach involves the introduction of Maxwell's equations at the earliest opportunity to serve as the basis for everything that follows.

This volume contains a multiplicity of approaches brought to bear on problems varying from the formation of caustics and the propagation of waves at a boundary, to the examination of viscous boundary layers. It examines the foundations of the theory of high- frequency electromagnetic waves in a dielectric or semiconducting medium. Nor are unifying themes entirely absent from nonlinear analysis: one chapter considers microlocal analysis, including paradifferential operator calculus, on Morrey spaces, and connections with various classes of partial differential equations.

The first two international conferences on Ultra-Wideband (UWB), Short-Pulse (SP) Electromagnetics were held at Polytechnic University, Brooklyn, New York in 1992 and 1994. Their purpose was to focus on advanced technologies for generating, radiating, and detecting UWB, SP signals, on mathematical methods, their propagation and scattering, and on current as well as potential future applications. The success of these two conferences led to the desirability of scheduling a third conference. Impetus was provided by the electromagnetics community and discussions led by Carl Baum and Larry Carin resulted in the suggestion that the UWB conferences be moved around, say to government laboratories such as Phillips Laboratory. Consequently the decision was made by the Permanent HPEM Committee to expand AMEREM '96 to include the Third Ultra-Wide Band, Short-Pulse (UWB, SP 3) with the Third Unexploded Ordnance Detec tion and Range Remediation Conference (UXO) and the HPEMINEM Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico during the period May 27-31, 1996. Planning is now underway for EUROEM '98 in June, 1998 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Joseph Shiloh is the conference chairman. A fourth UWB, SP meeting is planned as a part of this conference and Ehud Heyman will coordinate this part of the meeting. The papers which appear in this volume, the third in the UWB, SP series, update subject areas from the earlier UWB, SP conferences. These topics include pulse generation and detection, antennas, pulse propagation, scattering theory, signal processing, broadband electronic systems, and buried targets."

Recent advances in our understanding of complex composite media, especially chiral media for microwave applications, suggest the feasibility of creating novel materials with unusual properties and the possibility of constructing new microwave devices using such materials. The emphasis of the book is on bi-anisotropic materials, whose most interesting feature is the magnetoelectric interaction of the fields. The materials are expected to supply useful applications in radar technology, aerospace, microwave engineering, manufacturing technology, etc., such as absorbers for low-reflectivity shields, reciprocal phase shifters, polarization transformers. The first experiments with artificial bi-anisotropic media have been successfully carried out.

Five questions dominated the ARW on Physics and Materials Science of High Temperature Superconductors, of which this book forms the permanent record. Briefly, these are: (i) How close are we to a unified theory? The consensus is that we are not. (ii) Flux pinning: can it be achieved in bulk materials? Still an open question. The following three questions are related. (iii) Can grain boundary contributions be brought under control? (iv) What is the real requirement for purity and general chemistry control? (v)What is the practical outlook for bulk products - tapes and wires? One of the conclusions is that the geometry and dimensions in thin films are the key parameters that facilitate the realization of high current densities and, consequently, their commercial application. On the other hand, the very large number of poorly understood microstructural, chemical and mechanical variables involved in the preparation of bulk materials are currently prohibiting large scale commercialization of wires and tapes.

The aim of this NATO ASI has been to present an up-to-date overview of current areas of interest in amorphous materials. In order to limit the material to a manageable amount, the meeting was concerned exclusively with insulating and semiconducting materials. The lectures and seminars fill the gap between graduate courses and research seminars. The lecturers and seminar speakers were chosen as experts in their respective areas and the lectures and seminars that were given are presented in this volume. During the first week of the meeting. an emphasis was placed on introductory lectures, mainly associated with questions relating to the glass-formation and the structure of glasses. The second week focused more on research seminars. Each day of the meeting. about four posters were presented during the coffee breaks, and these formed an important focus for discussions. The posters are not reproduced in this volume as the editors wanted to have only larger contributions to make this volume more coherent. This volume is organized into four sections, starting with general considerations of the glass forming ability and techniques for the preparation of different kinds of glasses.

Intended for undergraduate students of electrical engineering, this introduction to electromagnetic fields emphasizes the computation of fields as well as the development of theoretical relations. The first part thus presents the electromagnetic field and Maxwell's equations with a view toward connecting the disparate applications to the underlying relations, while the second part presents computational methods of solving the equations - which for most practical calses cannot be solved analytically.

In this text, Shigeji Fujita and Salvador Godoy guide first and second-year graduate students through the essential aspects of superconductivity. The authors open with five preparatory chapters thoroughly reviewing a number of advanced physical concepts-such as free-electron model of a metal, theory of lattice vibrations, and Bloch electrons. The remaining chapters deal with the theory of superconductivity-describing the basic properties of type I, type II compound, and high-Tc superconductors as well as treating quasi-particles using Heisenberg's equation of motion. The book includes step-by-step derivations of mathematical formulas, sample problems, and illustrations.

Nanoscale Science, whose birth and further growth and development has been driven by the needs of the microelectronics industry on one hand, and by the sheer human curiosity on the other hand, has given researchers an unprecedented capability to design and construct devices whose function ality is based on quantum and mesoscopic effects. A necessary step in this process has been the development of reliable fabrication techniques in the nanometer scale: two-dimensional systems, quantum wires and dots, and Coulomb blockade structures with almost ideal properties can nowadays be fabricated, and subjected to experimental studies. How does one fabricate micro/nanostructures of low dimensionality? How does one perform a nanoscale characterization of these structures? What are the fundamental properties typical to the structures? Which new physical processes in nanostructures need to be understood? What new physical processes may allow us to create new nanostructures? An improved understanding of these topics is necessary for creation of new concepts for future electronic and optoelectronic devices and for characterizing device structures based on those concepts."

In The New Superconductors, Frank J. Owens and Charles P. Poole, Jr., offer a descriptive, non-mathematical presentation of the latest superconductors and their properties for the non-specialist. Highlights of this up-to-date text include chapters on superfluidity, the latest copper oxide types, fullerenes, and prospects for future research. The book also features many examples of commercial applications; an extensive glossary that defines superconductivity terms in clear language; and a supplementary list of readings for the interested lay reader.

A timely and authoritative guide to the state of the art of wave scattering

Scattering of Electromagnetic Waves offers in three volumes a complete and up-to-date treatment of wave scattering by random discrete scatterers and rough surfaces. Written by leading scientists who have made important contributions to wave scattering over three decades, this new work explains the principles, methods, and applications of this rapidly expanding, interdisciplinary field. It covers both introductory and advanced material and provides students and researchers in remote sensing as well as imaging, optics, and electromagnetic theory with a one-stop reference to a wealth of current research results. Plus, Scattering of Electromagnetic Waves contains detailed discussions of both analytical and numerical methods, including cutting-edge techniques for the recovery of earth/land parametric information.

The three volumes are entitled respectively Theories and Applications, Numerical Simulation, and Advanced Topics. In the second volume, Numerical Simulations, Leung Tsang (University of Washington) Jin Au Kong (MIT), Kung-Hau Ding (Air Force Research Lab), and Chi On Ao (MIT) cover:

• Layered media simulations
• Rough surface and volume scattering simulations
• Dense media models and simulations
• Electromagnetic scattering by discrete scatterers and a buried object
• Scattering by vertical cylinders above a surface
• Electromagnetic waves scattering by vegetation
• Computational methods and programs used for performing various simulations

Molecular magnetism is a new field of research dealing with the synthesis and study of the physical properties of molecular assemblies involving open-shell units. It is essentially interdisciplinary, joining together organic, organometallic and inorganic chemists, as well as theoreticians, physicists and materials scientists.
At the core of research into molecular magnetism lie design and synthesis of new molecular assemblies exhibiting bulk properties such as long-range magnetic ordering or bistability with an hysteresis effect, which confers a memory effect on the system. In such terms, magnetism may be considered a supramolecular function.
The first eight contributions to this volume present the state of the art in organic supramolecular chemistry, emphasising interlocked systems and molecular trees. The following six articles are devoted to molecular materials constructed from organic radicals and transition metal units. Molecular bistability is then focused on, followed by metal-organic and coordination magnetic materials. A new approach to nano-sized particles closes the work.

The field of low-dimensional conductors has been very active for more than twenty years. It has grown continuously and both the inorganic and organic materials have remark able properties, such as charge and spin density waves and superconductivity. The discovery of superconductivity at high temperature in copper-based quasi two-dimensional conducting oxides nearly ten years ago has further enlarged the field and stimulated new research on inorganic conductors. It was obviously impossible to cover such a broad field in a ten day Institute and it seemed pertinent to concentrate on inorganic conductors, excluding the high Tc superconducting oxides. In this context, it was highly desirable to include both physics and chemistry in the same Institute in order to tighten or in some cases to establish links between physicists and chemists. This Advanced Study Institute is the continuation of a series of similar ones which have taken place every few years since 1974. 73 participants coming from 13 countries have taken part in this School at the beautiful site of the Centre de Physique des Houches in the Mont-Blanc mountain range. The scientific programme included more than forty lectures and seminars, two poster sessions and ten short talks. Several discussion sessions were organized for the evenings, one on New Materials, one on New Topics and one on the special problem of the Fermi and Luttinger liquids. The scientific activity was kept high from the beginning to the end of the Institute.