This book introduces the wider field of functional nanomaterials sciences, with a strong emphasis on semiconductor photonics. Whether you are studying photonic quantum devices or just interested in semiconductor nanomaterials and their benefits for optoelectronic applications, this book offers you a pedagogical overview of the relevant subjects along with topical reviews. The book discusses different yet complementary studies in the context of ongoing international research efforts, delivering examples from both fundamental and applied research to a broad readership. In addition, a hand-full of useful optical techniques for the characterization of semiconductor quantum structures and materials are addressed. Moreover, nanostructuring methods for the production of low-dimensional systems, which exhibit advantageous properties predominantly due to quantum effects, are summarized. Science and engineering professionals in the interdisciplinary domains of nanotechnology, photonics, materials sciences, and quantum physics can familiarize themselves with selected highlights with eyes towards photonic applications in the fields of two-dimensional materials research, light-matter interactions, and quantum technologies.

What are the thinking processes and knowledge resources involved in a complex discovery? How can the physics of solids, the physics of nuclei, and elementary particle physics cross-fertilise in spite of the widely differing domains and energy scales they deal with? This book addresses the questions by reconstructing and examining from the historical epistemological perspective the fascinating heuristic path to the concept of spontaneous symmetry breaking. This analysis especially brings to light the role that analogical reasoning and mathematical reformulations played in the discovery process, as well as the influence of the Japanese milieu and approach to physical problems.

This book covers newly emerging two-dimensional nanomaterials which have been recently used for the purpose of water purification. It focuses on the synthesis methods of 2D materials and answers how scientists/engineers/nanotechnologist/environmentalists could use these materials for fabricating new separation membranes and most probably making commercially feasible technology. The chapters are written by a collection of international experts ensuring a broad view of each topic. The book will be of interest to experienced researchers as well as young scientists looking for an introduction into 2D materials-based cross-disciplinary research.

The book summarizes recent international research and experimental developments regarding fatigue crack growth investigations of rubber materials. It shows the progress in fundamental as well as advanced research of fracture investigation of rubber material under fatigue loading conditions, especially from the experimental point of view. However, some chapters will describe the progress in numerical modeling and physical description of fracture mechanics and cavitation phenomena in rubbers. Initiation and propagation of cracks in rubber materials are dominant phenomena which determine the lifetime of these soft rubber materials and, as a consequence, the lifetime of the corresponding final rubber parts in various fields of application. Recently, these phenomena became of great scientific interest due to the development of new experimental methods, concepts and models. Furthermore, crack phenomena have an extraordinary impact on rubber wear and abrasion of automotive tires; and understanding of crack initiation and growth in rubbers will help to support the growthing number of activities and worldwide efforts of reduction of tire wear losses and abrasion based emissions.

In this book, the author focuses on the physics behind dew, breaths figures, and dropwise condensation phenomena to introduce scientists, engineers and students to the many original processes involved in condensation. Consisting of 15 Chapters, 18 Appendices and over 500 references, the reader learns the needed theoretical backgrounds and formulae to understand the complexity of dropwise condensation. Heat and mass transfer, nucleation and growth on various substrates are considered (solid, liquid, plastic, undergoing phase change or micro-patterned substrates). The particular role of thermal or geometrical discontinuities where growth can be enhanced or reduced, dynamical aspects of self-diffusion, problems related to drop collection by gravity and the optics of dropwise condensation are all discussed. Although the content mainly deals with condensation from humid air, it can readily be generalized to condensation of any substance. The specificities of pure vapor condensation (e.g. steam) are also examined. Numerous images are provided within the text to illustrate the physics. This book is meant for those studying or researching dew and dropwise condensation, but also for individuals wishing to develop their knowledge on the subject.

This book presents a comprehensive review of various aspects of the novel and rapidly developing field of active matter, which encompasses a wide variety of self-organized self-driven energy-consuming media or agents. Most naturally occurring examples are of biological origin, spanning all scales from intracellular structures to swimming and crawling cells and microorganisms, to living tissues, bacterial colonies and flocks of birds. But the field also encompasses artificial systems, from colloids to soft robots. Intrinsically out of equilibrium and free of constraints of time-reversal symmetry, such systems display a range of surprising and unusual behaviors. In this book, the author emphasizes connections between fluid-mechanical, material, biological and technological aspects of active matter. He employs a minimum of mathematical tools, ensuring that the presentation is accessible to a wider scientific community. Richly illustrated, it gives the reader a clear picture of this fascinating field, its diverse phenomena and its open questions.

This book puts forward a modern classification theory for superconducting gap nodes, whose structures can be observed by experiments and are essential for understanding unconventional superconductivity. In the first part of the book, the classification method, based on group theory and K theory, is introduced in a step-by-step, pedagogical way. In turn, the latter part presents comprehensive classification tables, which include various nontrivial gap (node) structures, which are not predicted by the Sigrist-Ueda method, but are by the new method. The results obtained here show that crystal symmetry and/or angular momentum impose critical constraints on the superconducting gap structures. Lastly, the book lists a range of candidate superconductors for the nontrivial gap nodes. The classification methods and tables presented here offer an essential basis for further investigations into unconventional superconductivity. They indicate that previous experimental studies should be reinterpreted, while future experiments should reflect the new excitation spectrum.

This essential offers a compact introduction to the theory of Fermi liquid for physics students in their main studies. It forms the basis for an understanding of theoretical solid state physics and is part of every introductory lecture on this topic. After a brief overview of the Sommerfeld model of metals, the concept of the quasiparticle is introduced. Important calculations characterizing a Fermi liquid are derived in detailed calculations. The essential concludes with an overview of the microscopic theory of Fermi liquids. This Springer essential is a translation of the original German 1st edition essentials, Theorie der Fermiflussigkeit in Metallen by Michael Kinza, published by Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature in 2018. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content, so that the book will read stylistically differently from a conventional translation. Springer Nature works continuously to further the development of tools for the production of books and on the related technologies to support the authors.

This textbook, now in an expanded third edition, emphasizes the importance of advanced quantum mechanics for materials science and all experimental techniques which employ photon absorption, emission, or scattering. Important aspects of introductory quantum mechanics are covered in the first seven chapters to make the subject self-contained and accessible for a wide audience. Advanced Quantum Mechanics: Materials and Photons can therefore be used for advanced undergraduate courses and introductory graduate courses which are targeted towards students with diverse academic backgrounds from the Natural Sciences or Engineering. To enhance this inclusive aspect of making the subject as accessible as possible, introductions to Lagrangian mechanics and the covariant formulation of electrodynamics are provided in appendices. This third edition includes 60 new exercises, new and improved illustrations, and new material on interpretations of quantum mechanics. Other special features include an introduction to Lagrangian field theory and an integrated discussion of transition amplitudes with discrete or continuous initial or final states. Once students have acquired an understanding of basic quantum mechanics and classical field theory, canonical field quantization is easy. Furthermore, the integrated discussion of transition amplitudes naturally leads to the notions of transition probabilities, decay rates, absorption cross sections and scattering cross sections, which are important for all experimental techniques that use photon probes.

Dirac cones are ubiquitous to non-trivial quantum matter and are expected to boost and reshape the field of modern electronics. Particularly relevant examples where these cones arise are topological insulators and graphene. From a fundamental perspective, this thesis proposes schemes towards modifying basic properties of these cones in the aforementioned materials. The thesis begins with a brief historical introduction which is followed by an extensive chapter that endows the reader with the basic tools of symmetry and topology needed to understand the remaining text. The subsequent four chapters are devoted to the reshaping of Dirac cones by external fields and delta doping. At all times, the ideas discussed in the second chapter are always a guiding principle to understand the phenomena discussed in those four chapters. As a result, the thesis is cohesive and represents a major advance in our understanding of the physics of Dirac materials.

This textbook is an introduction to the Brownian motion of colloids and nano-particles, and the diffusion of molecules. One very appealing aspect of Brownian motion, as this book illustrates, is that the subject connects a broad variety of topics, including thermal physics, hydrodynamics, reaction kinetics, fluctuation phenomena, statistical thermodynamics, osmosis and colloid science. The book is based on a set of lecture notes that the authors used for an undergraduate course at the University of Utrecht, Netherland. It aims to provide more than a simplified qualitative description of the subject, without getting bogged down in difficult mathematics. Each chapter contains exercises, ranging from straightforward ones to more involved problems, addressing instances from (thermal motion in) chemistry, physics and life sciences. Exercises also deal with derivations or calculations that are skipped in the main text. The book offers a treatment of Brownian motion on a level appropriate for bachelor/undergraduate students of physics, chemistry, soft matter and the life sciences. PhD students attending courses and doing research in colloid science or soft matter will also benefit from this book.

This book presents new approaches that offer a better characterization of the interrelationship between crystalline and amorphous phases. In recent years, the use of dielectric spectroscopy has significantly improved our understanding of crystallization. The combination of modern scattering methods, using either synchrotron light or neutrons and infrared spectroscopy with dielectrics, is now helping to reveal modifications of both crystalline and amorphous phases. In turn, this yields insights into the underlying physics of the crystallization process in various materials, e.g. polymers, liquid crystals and diverse liquids. The book offers an excellent introduction to a valuable application of dielectric spectroscopy, and a helpful guide for every scientist who wants to study crystallization processes by means of dielectric spectroscopy.

A new, definitive perspective of electrokinetic and colloid transport processes
Responding to renewed interest in the subject of electrokinetics, Electrokinetic and Colloid Transport Phenomena is a timely overview of the latest research and applications in this field for both the beginner and the professional. An outgrowth of an earlier text (by coauthor Jacob Masliyah), this self-contained reference provides an up-to-date summary of the literature on electrokinetic and colloid transport phenomena as well as direct pedagogical insight into the development of the subject over the past several decades.
A distinct departure from standard colloid science monographs, Electrokinetic and Colloid Transport Phenomena presents the most salient features of the theory in a simple and direct manner, allowing the book to serve as a stepping-stone for further learning and study. In addition, the book uniquely discusses numerical simulation of electrokinetic problems and demonstrates the use of commercial finite element software for solving these multiphysics problems. Among the topics covered are:
* Mathematical preliminaries
* Colloidal systems
* Electrostatics and application of electrostatics
* Electric double layer
* Electroosmosis and streaming potential
* Electrophoresis and sedimentation potential
* London-Van der Waals forces and the DLVO theory
* Coagulation and colloid deposition
* Numerical simulation of electrokinetic phenomena
* Applications of electrokinetic phenomena

Because this thorough reference does not require advanced mathematical knowledge, it enables a graduate or a senior undergraduate student approaching the subject for the first time to easily interpret the theories. On the other hand, the application of relevant mathematical principles and the worked examples are extremely useful to established researchers and professionals involved in a wide range of areas, including electroosmosis, streaming potential, electrophoretic separations, industrial practices involving colloids and complex fluids, environmental remediation, suspensions, and microfluidic systems.

This book bridges disparate fields in an exploration of the phenomena and applications surrounding molecular mobility in glassy materials experiencing inelastic deformation. The subjects of plastic deformation and polymer motion/interdiffusion currently belong to the two different fields of continuum mechanics and polymer physics, respectively. However, molecular motion associated with plastic deformation is a key ingredient to gain fundamental understanding, both at the macroscopic and microscopic level. This short monograph provides necessary background in the aforementioned fields before addressing the topic of molecular mobility accompanied by macroscopic inelastic deformation in an accessible and easy-to-understand manner. A new phenomenon of solid-state deformation-induced bonding in polymers is discussed in detail, along with some broad implications in several manufacturing sectors. Open questions pertaining to mechanisms, mechanics, and modeling of deformation-induced bonding in polymers are presented. The book's clear language and careful explanations will speak to readers of diverse backgrounds.

Quantum systems with many degrees of freedom are inherently difficult to describe and simulate quantitatively. The space of possible states is, in general, exponentially large in the number of degrees of freedom such as the number of particles it contains. Standard digital high-performance computing is generally too weak to capture all the necessary details, such that alternative quantum simulation devices have been proposed as a solution. Artificial neural networks, with their high non-local connectivity between the neuron degrees of freedom, may soon gain importance in simulating static and dynamical behavior of quantum systems. Particularly promising candidates are neuromorphic realizations based on analog electronic circuits which are being developed to capture, e.g., the functioning of biologically relevant networks. In turn, such neuromorphic systems may be used to measure and control real quantum many-body systems online. This thesis lays an important foundation for the realization of quantum simulations by means of neuromorphic hardware, for using quantum physics as an input to classical neural nets and, in turn, for using network results to be fed back to quantum systems. The necessary foundations on both sides, quantum physics and artificial neural networks, are described, providing a valuable reference for researchers from these different communities who need to understand the foundations of both.

This book highlights the latest advances in bioMEMS for biosensing applications. It comprehensively reviews different detection methods, including colorimetric, fluorescence, luminescence, bioluminescence, chemiluminescence, biochemiluminescence, and electrochemiluminescence, and presents various bioMEMS for each, together with recent examples. The book also offers an overview of the history of BioMEMS and the design and manufacture of the first bioMEMS-based devices.

Superfluid helium is a quantum liquid that exhibits a range of counter-intuitive phenomena such as frictionless flow. Quantized vortices are a particularly important feature of superfluid helium, and all superfluids, characterized by a circulation that can only take prescribed integer values. However, the strong interactions between atoms in superfluid helium prohibit quantitative theory of vortex behaviour. Experiments have similarly not been able to observe coherent vortex dynamics. This thesis resolves this challenge, bringing microphotonic techniques to bear on two-dimensional superfluid helium, observing coherent vortex dynamics for the first time, and achieving this on a silicon chip. This represents a major scientific contribution, as it opens the door not only to providing a better understanding of this esoteric quantum state of matter, but also to building new quantum technologies based upon it, and to understanding the dynamics of astrophysical superfluids such as those thought to exist in the core of neutron stars.

Thin Films and Coatings: Toughening and Toughness Characterization captures the latest developments in the toughening of hard coatings and in the measurement of the toughness of thin films and coatings. Featuring chapters contributed by experts from Australia, China, Czech Republic, Poland, Singapore, Spain, and the United Kingdom, this book: Presents the current status of hard-yet-tough ceramic coatings Reviews various toughness evaluation methods for films and hard coatings Explores the toughness and toughening mechanisms of porous thin films and laser-treated surfaces Examines adhesions of the film/substrate interface and the characterization of coating adhesion strength Discusses nanoindentation determination of fracture toughness, resistance to cracking, and sliding contact fracture phenomena Toughening and toughness measurement (of films and coatings) are two related, yet separate, fields of great importance in today's nanotechnology world. Thin Films and Coatings: Toughening and Toughness Characterization is a timely reference written in such a way that novices will find it a stepping stone to the field and veterans will find it a rich source of information for their research.

Quantum is rapidly emerging as a game-changer in technology. The end of Moore's Law for exponential growth is rapidly approaching and engineers and physicist alike are looking at moving past the classical limitations of modern technology and are exploring the new opportunities that quantum behaviour creates in sensing, metrology, communications and information processing. This book serves as introduction to quantum theory with emphasis on dynamical behaviour and applications of quantum mechanics, with minimal discussion of formalism. The goal is to help students begin to learn the tools for a quantum toolbox they will need to work in this area. It is aimed at upper level undergraduates and first year graduate students and assumes the reader has not had any training in quantum mechanics beyond what might be encountered in two semesters of introductory physics. The language of quantum is mathematics and builds on what is covered in typically the first two years. The first six chapters introduce Schroedinger's equation and develop the quantized description of common systems that exist in real space like a vibrator, nano-particles, atoms, crystals, etc. Beginning in Ch. 7 and for the remaining nine chapters, the focus is primarily on dynamical behaviour and how to think about real quantum systems. Spin, the quantized electromagnetic field, dissipation, loss and spontaneous emission, are discussed as well as quantum optics and the operator equations for common two-state systems such as the quantum flip flop and the density matrix equations. The book is structured so that a two semester course sequence is possible or a single semester course with options discussed in the preface to set different learning objectives. Even a one semester course based on this text covers much more material than a typical upper quantum course for undergraduates in physics, but at the expense of more detailed discussions about solutions to various differential equations such as for angular momentum and the hydrogen atom or band theory for semiconductors.

This book presents different thermodynamic approaches in the area of constitutive theory: thermodynamics of irreversible processes, rational thermodynamics, and extended thermodynamics. These different approaches are analyzed with respect to their presuppositions, as well as to their results, and each method is applied to several important examples. In many cases these examples are archetypes for numerous technologically important materials; i.e. complex materials having an internal structure. Some of the examples dealt with in this book are liquid crystals, colloid suspensions, ans fiber suspensions. The book well serves students and researchers who have basic knowledge in continuum mechanics and thermodynamics. It provides a systematic overview of the vast field of thermodynamic constitutive theory, beginning from a historical perspective and concluding with outstanding questions in recent research.

Liquid crystal (LC) displays dominating in the present market of flat panel displays are generally based on interactions of light and LCs. Recent progress in this field indicates that integrating photochromic molecules into LC materials enables one to photomanipulate unique features such as photoinduced phase transition, photocontrolled alignment, and phototriggered molecular cooperative motion, giving birth to their novel applications beyond displays. For instance, on connecting with three-dimensionally crosslinked elastomers, LCs show photomechanical and photomobile properties, converting light energy directly into mechanical work. Combining supramolecular cooperative motion with microphase separation of well-defined block copolymers, they exhibit controllable regular nanostructures on a macroscopic scale with excellent reproducibility and mass production. This book first introduces the basic knowledge on LCs in a step-by-step manner and then deeply discusses photoresponsive LCs in low-molecular-weight compounds or small molecules, polymers or macromolecules, elastomers, and block copolymers, respectively. The engrossing photoresponsive LC materials offer an effective and convenient chance to adjust properties of advanced materials by integrating photoresponsive molecules with LC properties, which has become one of the emerging topics in the present and future LC researches. This book comprehensively compiles the nature of this type of materials and the ongoing progress in this research area and uses graphs and figures extensively to enhance understanding especially of beginners. This book would be useful for students and primary researchers in soft materials and self-organized materials in both chemistry and physics. It may also serve as a reference for experienced researchers to keep up the current research trends in photoresponsive LC materials.

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.

Few-body physics covers a rich and wide variety of phenomena, ranging from the very lowest energy scales of atomic and molecular physics to high-energy particle physics. The papers contained in the present volume provide an apercu of recent progress in the field from both the theoretical and experimental perspectives and are based on work presented at the "22nd International Conference on Few-Body Problems in Physics". This book is geared towards academics and graduate students involved in the study of systems which present few-body characteristics and those interested in the related mathematical and computational techniques.

This thesis focuses on experimental studies on collective motion using swimming bacteria as model active-matter systems. It offers comprehensive reviews of state-of-the-art theories and experiments on collective motion from the viewpoint of nonequilibrium statistical physics. The author presents his experimental studies on two major classes of collective motion that had been well studied theoretically. Firstly, swimming filamentous bacteria in a thin fluid layer are shown to exhibit true, long-range orientational order and anomalously strong giant density fluctuations, which are considered universal and landmark signatures of collective motion by many numerical and theoretical works but have never been observed in real systems. Secondly, chaotic bacterial turbulence in a three-dimensional dense suspension without any long-range order as described in the first half is demonstrated to be capable of achieving antiferromagnetic vortex order by imposing a small number of constraints with appropriate periodicity. The experimental results presented significantly advance our fundamental understanding of order and fluctuations in collective motion of motile elements and their future applications.

The book reviews photosynthetic water oxidation and proton-coupled electron transfer in photosystem, focusing on the molecular vibrations of amino acid residues and water molecules. Photosynthetic water oxidation performed by plants and cyanobacteria is essential for the sustenance of life on Earth, not only as an electron source for synthesizing sugars from CO2, but also as an O2 source in the atmosphere. Water oxidation takes place at the Mn4CaO5 cluster in photosystem II, where a series of electron transfer reactions coupled with proton transfer occur using light energy. The author addresses the unresolved mechanisms of photosynthetic water oxidation and relevant proton-coupled electron transfer reactions using a combined approach of experimental and computational methods such as Fourier transform infrared difference spectroscopy and quantum chemical calculations. The results show that protonation and hydrogen-bond structures of water molecules and amino acid residues in the protein play important roles in regulation of the electron and proton transfer reactions. These findings and the methodology make a significant contribution to our understanding the molecular mechanism of photosynthetic water oxidation.