Caustics are natural phenomena, forming light patterns in rainbows or through drinking glasses, and creating light networks at the bottom of swimming pools. Only in recent years have scientists started to artificially create simple caustics with laser light. However, these realizations have already contributed to progress in advanced imaging, lithography, and micro-manipulation. In this book, Alessandro Zannotti pioneers caustics in many ways, establishing the field of artificial caustic optics. He employs caustic design to customize high-intensity laser light. This is of great relevance for laser-based machining, sensing, microscopy, and secure communication. The author also solves a long standing problem concerning the origin of rogue waves which appear naturally in the sea and can have disastrous consequences. By means of a far-reaching optical analogy, he identifies scattering of caustics in random media as the origin of rogue waves, and shows how nonlinear light-matter interaction increases their probability.

This book highlights the synthesis/fabrication of novel materials for different kinds of optical applications. It covers all aspects of optical applications starting from LED/Lasers, SERS, bio-sensing, bio-imaging and non-linear optical applications such as optical limiting, saturable absorbers etc. The book describes the development of novel materials and geometry as well as engineering of their size and shape for harvesting better optical properties. Nonconventional plasmonic materials and their fabrication are discussed apart from the conventionally employed noble metal based nanosystems. In addition, development of Novel materials/structures for biosensing /bioimaging /optical limiting are also covered.

This book gathers selected research papers presented at the Second International Conference on Energy Systems, Drives and Automations (ESDA 2019), held in Kolkata on 28-29 December 2019. It covers a broad range of topics in the fields of renewable energy, power management, drive systems for electrical machines and automation. Also discussing a variety of related tools and techniques, the book offers a valuable resource for researchers, professionals and students in electrical and mechanical engineering disciplines.

This book discusses the advantages and challenges of Body-Biasing for integrated circuits and systems, together with the deployment of the design infrastructure needed to generate this Body-Bias voltage. These new design solutions enable state of the art energy efficiency and system flexibility for the latest applications, such as Internet of Things and 5G communications.

The book focuses on the development of high performance, high efficiency electroactive polymers (EAPs), and electromechanically active polymers by controlling molecular chemical structure and morphology for all applications. This book is ideal for academicians and researchers in polymer and materials science.

With the fast pace of developments in quantum technologies, it is more than ever necessary to make the new generation of students in science and engineering familiar with the key ideas behind such disruptive systems. This book intends to fill such a gap between experts and non-experts in the field by providing the reader with the basic tools needed to understand the latest developments in quantum communications and its future directions. This is not only to expand the audience knowledge but also to attract new talents to this flourishing field. To that end, the book as a whole does not delve into much detail and most often suffices to provide some insight into the problem in hand. The primary users of the book will then be students in science and engineering in their final year of undergraduate studies or early years of their post-graduate programmes.

This book features works from world-class experts from academia, industry, and national agencies from across the world focusing on a wide spectrum of automotive fields covering in-vehicle signal processing, driver modeling, systems and safety. The essays collected in this volume present cutting-edge studies on safety, driver behavior, infrastructure, and human-to-vehicle interfaces.

This book addresses the fabrication of responsive functional nanomaterials and their use in sustainable energy and environmental applications. Responsive functional nanomaterials can change their physiochemical properties to adapt to their environment. Accordingly, these novel materials are playing an increasingly important role in a diverse range of applications, such as sensors and actuators, self-healing materials, separation, drug delivery, diagnostics, tissue engineering, functional coatings and textiles. This book reports on the latest advances in responsive functional nanomaterials in a wide range of applications and will appeal to a broad readership across the fields of materials, chemistry, sustainable energy, environmental science and nanotechnology.

For courses in Logic and Computer design. Understanding Logic and Computer Design for All Audiences Logic and Computer Design Fundamentals is a thoroughly up-to-date text that makes logic design, digital system design, and computer design available to students of all levels. The Fifth Edition brings this widely recognised source to modern standards by ensuring that all information is relevant and contemporary. The material focuses on industry trends and successfully bridges the gap between the much higher levels of abstraction students in the field must work with today than in the past. Broadly covering logic and computer design, Logic and Computer Design Fundamentals is a flexibly organised source material that allows instructors to tailor its use to a wide range of student audiences.

Effects of many-body interactions and superconducting correlations have become central questions in the quantum transport community. While most previous works investigating current fluctuations in nanodevices have been restricted to the stationary regime, Seoane's thesis extends these studies to the time domain. It provides relevant information about the time onset of electronic correlations mediated by interactions and superconductivity. This knowledge is essential for the development of fast electronic devices, as well as novel applications requiring fast manipulations, such as quantum information processing. In addition, the thesis establishes contact with issues of broad current interest such as non-equilibrium quantum phase transitions.

This book presents the latest achievements of Russian scientists in the field of theory and practice of decision-making in SEMS, taking into account the information received from the sensors of its central nervous system (CNS). Recently, in the field of theory and practice of intelligent robotics systems management, the solution to the problem of SEMS type urgent task of making decisions about their expedient behavior is based on the integration of the processes of obtaining, processing and storing information, computing, control and monitoring. This enables the efficiency, reliability and safety of operation of SEMS in real time. Decision-making methods are described, both in the autonomous behavior of SEMS and in their group interaction, based on the principles of bionics, adaptability, intelligence and parallelism in information processing and computation. This book is intended for students, scientists and engineers specializing in the field of smart electromechanical systems and robotics.

This book gives a comprehensive introduction to the field of photovoltaic (PV) solar cells and modules. In thirteen chapters, it addresses a wide range of topics including the spectrum of light received by PV devices, the basic functioning of a solar cell, and the physical factors limiting the efficiency of solar cells. It places particular emphasis on crystalline silicon solar cells and modules, which constitute today more than 90 % of all modules sold worldwide. Describing in great detail both the manufacturing process and resulting module performance, the book also touches on the newest developments in this sector, such as Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact (TOPCON) and heterojunction modules, while dedicating a major chapter to general questions of module design and fabrication. Overall, it presents the essential theoretical and practical concepts of PV solar cells and modules in an easy-to-understand manner and discusses current challenges facing the global research and development community.

Automatic identification has evolved to use techniques that can identify an object or subject without direct human intervention. Such devices include the bar code, magnetic-stripe, integrated circuit, and biometric and radio-frequency identification. Innovative Automatic Identification & Location-Based Services: From Bar Codes to Chip Implants emphasizes the convergence and trajectory of automatic identification and location-based services toward chip implants and real-time positioning capabilities. Recording the history of automatic identification, this book also discusses the social, cultural, and ethical implications of the technological possibilities with respect to national security initiatives.

This book offers, from both a theoretical and a computational perspective, an analysis of macroscopic mathematical models for description of charge transport in electronic devices, in particular in the presence of confining effects, such as in the double gate MOSFET. The models are derived from the semiclassical Boltzmann equation by means of the moment method and are closed by resorting to the maximum entropy principle. In the case of confinement, electrons are treated as waves in the confining direction by solving a one-dimensional Schroedinger equation obtaining subbands, while the longitudinal transport of subband electrons is described semiclassically. Limiting energy-transport and drift-diffusion models are also obtained by using suitable scaling procedures. An entire chapter in the book is dedicated to a promising new material like graphene. The models appear to be sound and sufficiently accurate for systematic use in computer-aided design simulators for complex electron devices. The book is addressed to applied mathematicians, physicists, and electronic engineers. It is written for graduate or PhD readers but the opening chapter contains a modicum of semiconductor physics, making it self-consistent and useful also for undergraduate students.

This accessible textbook offers a novel, concept-led approach to superconducting electronics, using the COMSOL Multiphysics software to help describe fundamental principles in an intuitive manner. Based on a course taught by the author and aimed primarily at engineering students, the book explains concepts effectively and efficiently, uncovering the "shortcut" to understanding each topic, enabling readers to quickly grasp the underlying essence. The book is divided into two main parts; the first part provides a general introduction to key topics encountered in superconductivity, illustrated using COMSOL simulations based on time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations and avoiding any deeply mathematical derivations. It includes numerous worked examples and problem sets with tips and solutions. The second part of the book is more conventional in nature, providing detailed derivations of the basic equations from first principles. This part covers more advanced topics, including the BCS-Gor'kov-Eliashberg approach to equilibrium properties of superconductors, the derivation of kinetic equations for nonequilibrium superconductors, and the derivation of time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations, used as the basis for COMSOL modeling in the first part. Supported throughout by an extensive library of COMSOL Multiphysics animations, the book serves as a uniquely accessible introduction to the field for engineers and others with a less rigorous background in physics and mathematics. However, it also features more detailed mathematical background for those wishing to delve further into the subject.

This thesis presents the first successful realization of a compact, low-noise, and few-cycle light source in the mid-infrared wavelength region. By developing the technology of pumping femtosecond chromium-doped II-VI laser oscillators directly with the emission of broad-stripe single-emitter laser diodes, coherent light was generated with exceptionally low amplitude noise - crucial for numerous applications including spectroscopy at high sensitivities. Other key parameters of the oscillator's output, such as pulse duration and output power, matched and even surpassed previous state-of-the-art systems. As a demonstration of its unique capabilities, the oscillator's powerful output was used to drive - without further amplification - the nonlinear generation of coherent mid-infrared light spanning multiple octaves. The resulting table-top system uniquely combines high brilliance and ultrabroad spectral bandwidth in the important mid-infrared spectral range. The rapid development of this technology is comprehensively and lucidly documented in this PhD thesis. Together with a thorough review of literature and applications, and an extensive analysis of the theoretical foundations behind ultrafast laser oscillators, the thesis will serve as a valuable reference for the construction of a new generation of mid-infrared light sources.

This book highlights the overview of Spintronics, including What is Spintronics ?; Why Do We Need Spintronics ?; Comparative merit-demerit of Spintronics and Electronics ; Research Efforts put on Spintronics ; Quantum Mechanics of Spin; Dynamics of magnetic moments : Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert Equation; Spin-Dependent Band Gap in Ferromagnetic Materials; Functionality of 'Spin' in Spintronics; Different Branches of Spintronics etc. Some important notions on basic elements of Spintronics are discussed here, such as - Spin Polarization, Spin Filter Effect, Spin Generation and Injection, Spin Accumulation, Different kinds of Spin Relaxation Phenomena, Spin Valve, Spin Extraction, Spin Hall Effect, Spin Seebeck Effect, Spin Current Measurement Mechanism, Magnetoresistance and its different kinds etc. Concept of Giant Magnetoresistance (GMR), different types of GMR, qualitative and quantitative explanation of GMR employing Resistor Network Theory are presented here. Tunnelling Magnetoresistance (TMR), Magnetic Junctions, Effect of various parameters on TMR, Measurement of spin relaxation length and time in the spacer layer are covered here. This book highlights the concept of Spin Transfer Torque (STT), STT in Ferromagnetic Layer Structures, STT driven Magnetization Dynamics, STT in Magnetic Multilayer Nanopillar etc. This book also sheds light on Magnetic Domain Wall (MDW) Motion, Ratchet Effect in MDW motion, MDW motion velocity measurements, Current-driven MDW motion, etc. The book deals with the emerging field of spintronics, i.e., Opto-spintronics. Special emphasis is given on ultrafast optical controlling of magnetic states of antiferromagnet, Spin-photon interaction, Faraday Effect, Inverse Faraday Effect and outline of different all-optical spintronic switching. One more promising branch i.e., Terahertz Spintronics is also covered. Principle of operation of spintronic terahertz emitter, choice of materials, terahertz writing of an antiferromagnetic magnetic memory device is discussed. Brief introduction of Semiconductor spintronics is presented that includes dilute magnetic semiconductor, feromagnetic semiconductor, spin polarized semiconductor devices, three terminal spintronic devices, Spin transistor, Spin-LED, and Spin-Laser. This book also emphasizes on several modern spintronics devices that includes GMR Read Head of Modern Hard Disk Drive, MRAM, Position Sensor, Biosensor, Magnetic Field sensor, Three Terminal Magnetic Memory Devices, Spin FET, Race Track Memory and Quantum Computing.

This book explores key techniques and methods in electromagnetic compatibility management, analysis, design, improvement and test verification for spacecraft. The first part introduces the general EMC technology of spacecraft, the electromagnetic interference control method and management of electromagnetic compatibility. The second part discusses the EMC prediction analysis technique and its application in spacecraft, while the third presents the EMC design of spacecraft modules and typical equipment. The final two parts address spacecraft magnetic design testing technologies and spacecraft testing technologies. The book also covers the program control test process, the special power control unit (PCU), electric propulsion, PIM test and multipaction testing for spacecraft, making it a valuable resource for researchers and engineers alike.

This book provides a unique and comprehensive overview of the latest advances, challenges and accomplishments in the rapidly growing field of theoretical and computational materials science. Today, an increasing number of industrial communities rely more and more on advanced atomic-scale methods to obtain reliable predictions of materials properties, complement qualitative experimental analyses and circumvent experimental difficulties. The book examines some of the latest and most advanced simulation techniques currently available, as well as up-to-date theoretical approaches adopted by a selected panel of twelve international research teams. It covers a wide range of novel and advanced materials, exploring their structural, elastic, optical, mass and electronic transport properties. The cutting-edge techniques presented appeal to physicists, applied mathematicians and engineers interested in advanced simulation methods in materials science. The book can also be used as additional literature for undergraduate and postgraduate students with majors in physics, chemistry, applied mathematics and engineering.

This book provides a comprehensive survey of the technology of flash lamp annealing (FLA) for thermal processing of semiconductors. It gives a detailed introduction to the FLA technology and its physical background. Advantages, drawbacks and process issues are addressed in detail and allow the reader to properly plan and perform their own thermal processing. Moreover, this books gives a broad overview of the applications of flash lamp annealing, including a comprehensive literature survey. Several case studies of simulated temperature profiles in real material systems give the reader the necessary insight into the underlying physics and simulations. This book is a valuable reference work for both novice and advanced users.

This book deals with mathematical modeling, namely, it describes the mathematical model of heat transfer in a silicon cathode of small (nano) dimensions with the possibility of partial melting taken into account. This mathematical model is based on the phase field system, i.e., on a contemporary generalization of Stefan-type free boundary problems. The approach used is not purely mathematical but is based on the understanding of the solution structure (construction and study of asymptotic solutions) and computer calculations. The book presents an algorithm for numerical solution of the equations of the mathematical model including its parallel implementation. The results of numerical simulation concludes the book. The book is intended for specialists in the field of heat transfer and field emission processes and can be useful for senior students and postgraduates.

The series Topics in Current Chemistry Collections presents critical reviews from the journal Topics in Current Chemistry organized in topical volumes. The scope of coverage is all areas of chemical science including the interfaces with related disciplines such as biology, medicine and materials science. The goal of each thematic volume is to give the non-specialist reader, whether in academia or industry, a comprehensive insight into an area where new research is emerging which is of interest to a larger scientific audience. Each review within the volume critically surveys one aspect of that topic and places it within the context of the volume as a whole. The most significant developments of the last 5 to 10 years are presented using selected examples to illustrate the principles discussed. The coverage is not intended to be an exhaustive summary of the field or include large quantities of data, but should rather be conceptual, concentrating on the methodological thinking that will allow the non-specialist reader to understand the information presented. Contributions also offer an outlook on potential future developments in the field.