This book has emerged out of our long-time research interests on the topic of latex film formation. Over the years we have built up a repertoire of slides used in conference presentations, short courses and tutorials on the topic. The story presented in this book has thereby taken shape as it has been told and re-told to a mix of academic and industrial audiences. The book presents a wide body of work accumulated by the polymer colloids community over the past five decades, but the selection of examples has been flavoured by our particular experimental interests and development of mathematical models. We intend the book to be a starting point for academic and industrial scientists beginning research on latex film formation. The emphasis is on fundam- tal mechanisms, however, and not on applications nor on specific effects of formu- tions. We hope that the book consolidates the understanding that has been achieved to-date in the literature in a more comprehensive way than is possible in a review article. We trust that the reader will appreciate the fascination of the topic.

This book is concerned with polymeric hydrogels, which are considered as one of the most promising types of new polymer-based materials. Each chapter in this book describes a selected class of polymeric hydrogels, such as superabsorbent hybrid nanohydrogels, conducting polymer hydrogels, polysaccharide-based or protein-based hydrogels, or gels based on synthetic polymers. In this way, the book also addresses some of the fascinating properties and applications of polymeric hydrogels: they are three-dimensional, hydrophilic, polymeric networks that can absorb, swell and retain large quantities of water or aqueous fluids. In combination with metal nanoparticles, nanofibrils or nanowhiskers, which may be embedded in the gels, they find widespread applications, ranging from agriculture, and waste water treatment, over electronics, to pharmaceutical and biomedical applications. Applications mentioned in this book include electro sensors, capacitors, electromechanical actuators, and even artificial muscles.

This volume provides an introduction to the state-of-the-art of controlled nanoscale motion in biological and artificial systems. Coverage includes the control and function of protein motors, the physics of non-equilibrium Brownian motion, and the physics and fabrication of synthetic molecular motors. The chapters in this book are based on selected contributions on the 2005 Nobel Symposium on Controlled Nanoscale Motion.

Synergetics is the quantitative study of multicomponent systems that exhibit nonlinear dynamics and cooperativity. This book specifically considers basic models of the nonlinear dynamics of molecular systems and discusses relevant applications in biological physics and the polymer sciences. Emphasis is placed on specific solutions to the dynamical equations that correspond to the coherent formation of spatial-temporal structures, such as solitons, kinks and breathers, in particular. The emergence of these patterns in molecular structures provides a variety of information on their structural properties and plays a significant part in energy transfer processes, topological defects, dislocations, and related structure transitions. Real media, in which solitons take the form of solitary waves, are also considered. In this context, the formation of nonlinear waves in a continuous medium described by nonlinear equations is associated with spontaneous breaking of the local symmetry of the homogeneous system, which produces a range of interesting phenomena. A particular feature of this text is its combination of analytic and computational strategies to tackle difficult nonlinear problems at the molecular level of matter.

Semiconductor nanostructures are ideal systems to tailor the physical properties via quantum effects, utilizing special growth techniques, self-assembling, wet chemical processes or lithographic tools in combination with tuneable external electric and magnetic fields. Such systems are called "Quantum Materials".The electronic, photonic, and phononic properties of these systems are governed by size quantization and discrete energy levels. The charging is controlled by the Coulomb blockade. The spin can be manipulated by the geometrical structure, external gates and by integrating hybrid ferromagnetic emitters.This book reviews sophisticated preparation methods for quantum materials based on III-V and II-VI semiconductors and a wide variety of experimental techniques for the investigation of these interesting systems. It highlights selected experiments and theoretical concepts and gives such a state-of-the-art overview about the wide field of physics and chemistry that can be studied in these systems.

Advances in Polymer Science enjoys a longstanding tradition and good reputation in its community. Each volume is dedicated to a current topic and each review critically surveys one aspect of that topic, to place it within the context of the volume. The volumes typically summarize the significant developments of the last 5 to 10 years and discuss them critically, presenting selected examples, explaining and illustrating the important principles and bringing together many important references of primary literature. On that basis, future research directions in the area can be discussed. Advances in Polymer Science volumes thus are important references for every polymer scientist as well as for other scientists interested in polymer science - as an introduction to a neighboring field, or as a compilation of detailed information for the specialist.

This book discusses in detail the recent trends in Computational Physics, Nano-physics and Devices Technology. Numerous modern devices with very high accuracy, are explored In conditions such as longevity and extended possibilities to work in wide temperature and pressure ranges, aggressive media, etc. This edited volume presents 32 selected papers  of the 2013 International Conference on Science & Engineering in Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics. The book is divided into three scientific Sections: (i) Computational Physics, (ii) Nanophysics and Technology, (iii) Devices and Systems and is addressed to Professors, post-graduate students, scientists and engineers taking part in R&D of nano-materials, ferro-piezoelectrics, computational Physics and devices system, and also different devices based on broad applications in different areas of modern science and technology.

This book introduces the reader to basic notions of integrable techniques for one-dimensional quantum systems. In a pedagogical way, a few examples of exactly solvable models are worked out to go from the coordinate approach to the Algebraic Bethe Ansatz, with some discussion on the finite temperature thermodynamics. The aim is to provide the instruments to approach more advanced books or to allow for a critical reading of research articles and the extraction of useful information from them. We describe the solution of the anisotropic XY spin chain; of the Lieb-Liniger model of bosons with contact interaction at zero and finite temperature; and of the XXZ spin chain, first in the coordinate and then in the algebraic approach. To establish the connection between the latter and the solution of two dimensional classical models, we also introduce and solve the 6-vertex model. Finally, the low energy physics of these integrable models is mapped into the corresponding conformal field theory. Through its style and the choice of topics, this book tries to touch all fundamental ideas behind integrability and is meant for students and researchers interested either in an introduction to later delve in the advance aspects of Bethe Ansatz or in an overview of the topic for broadening their culture.

The book gives an introduction to the field quantization (second quantization) of light and matter with applications to atomic physics. The first chapter briefly reviews the origins of special relativity and quantum mechanics and the basic notions of quantum information theory and quantum statistical mechanics. The second chapter is devoted to the second quantization of the electromagnetic field, while the third chapter shows the consequences of the light field quantization in the description of electromagnetic transitions. In the fourth chapter it is analyzed the spin of the electron, and in particular its derivation from the Dirac equation, while the fifth chapter investigates the effects of external electric and magnetic fields on the atomic spectra (Stark and Zeeman effects). The sixth chapter describes the properties of systems composed by many interacting identical particles by introducing the Hartree-Fock variational method, the density functional theory and the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. Finally, in the seventh chapter it is explained the second quantization of the non-relativistic matter field, i.e. the Schrodinger field, which gives a powerful tool for the investigation of many-body problems and also atomic quantum optics. At the end of each chapter there are several solved problems which can help the students to put into practice the things they learned.

The series Advances in Polymer Science presents critical reviews of the present and future trends in polymer and biopolymer science. It covers all areas of research in polymer and biopolymer science including chemistry, physical chemistry, physics, material science. The thematic volumes are addressed to scientists, whether at universities or in industry, who wish to keep abreast of the important advances in the covered topics. Advances in Polymer Science enjoy a longstanding tradition and good reputation in its community. Each volume is dedicated to a current topic, and each review critically surveys one aspect of that topic, to place it within the context of the volume. The volumes typically summarize the significant developments of the last 5 to 10 years and discuss them critically, presenting selected examples, explaining and illustrating the important principles, and bringing together many important references of primary literature. On that basis, future research directions in the area can be discussed. Advances in Polymer Science volumes thus are important references for every polymer scientist, as well as for other scientists interested in polymer science - as an introduction to a neighboring field, or as a compilation of detailed information for the specialist. Review articles for the individual volumes are invited by the volume editors. Single contributions can be specially commissioned. Readership: Polymer scientists, or scientists in related fields interested in polymer and biopolymer science, at universities or in industry, graduate students.

When close to a continuous phase transition, many physical systems can usefully be mapped to ensembles of fluctuating loops, which might represent for example polymer rings, or line defects in a lattice magnet, or worldlines of quantum particles. 'Loop models' provide a unifying geometric language for problems of this kind. This thesis aims to extend this language in two directions. The first part of the thesis tackles ensembles of loops in three dimensions, and relates them to the statistical properties of line defects in disordered media and to critical phenomena in two-dimensional quantum magnets. The second part concerns two-dimensional loop models that lie outside the standard paradigms: new types of critical point are found, and new results given for the universal properties of polymer collapse transitions in two dimensions. All of these problems are shown to be related to sigma models on complex or real projective space, CP^{n−1} or RP^{n−1} -- in some cases in a 'replica' limit -- and this thesis is also an in-depth investigation of critical behaviour in these field theories.

This thesis presents studies on the interaction of soft materials like surfactants and proteins with hard silica nanomaterials. Due to its interdisciplinary nature it combines concepts from the fields of physical chemistry, nanoscience and materials science, yielding to fundamental insights into the structure-directing forces operating at the nano-scale. It is shown that the morphology of surfactant micellar aggregates adsorbed at the surface of nanoparticles and inside tubular nanopores can be tuned on demand by the co-adsorption of a surface modifier. The interaction of globular proteins with silica nanoparticles is dominated by electrostatic interactions and can be controlled by pH and ionic strength, while the bridging of nanoparticles by adsorbed protein molecules leads to large-scale hybrid aggregates of protein with the nanoparticles. Concepts emerging from the role of electrostatic interactions in the hetero-aggregation of nanoparticles with protein molecules are used for the co-assembly of charged microbeads into linear clusters and chains of controllable length.

This book focuses on the assembly, organization and resultant collective dynamics of soft matter systems maintained away from equilibrium by an energy flux. Living matter is the ultimate example of such systems, which are comprised of different constituents on very different scales (ions, nucleic acids, proteins, cells). The result of their diverse interactions, maintained using the energy from physiological processes, is a fantastically well-organized and dynamic whole. This work describes results from minimal, biomimetic systems and primarily investigates membranes and active emulsions, as well as key aspects of both soft matter and non-equilibrium phenomena. It is shown that these minimal reconstitutions are already capable of a range of complex behaviour such as nonlinear electric responses, chemical communication and locomotion. These studies will bring us closer to a fundamental understanding of complex systems by reconstituting key aspects of their form and function in simple model systems. Further, they may also serve as the first technological steps towards artificial soft functional matter.

Mechanical Properties of Single Molecules and Polymer Aggregates Rudiger Berger, Kurt Binder, Gregor Diezemann, Jurgen Gauss, Mark Helm, Katharina Landfester, Wolfgang Paul (Halle), Peter Virnau. Optical Properties of Individual Molecular Aggregates and Nano Particles Thomas Basche, Hans-Jurgen Butt, Gregor Diezemann, Jurgen Gauss, Klaus Mullen, Harald Paulsen, Carsten Soennichsen, Rudolf Zentel. Structure Formation of Polymeric Building Blocks I: Self-assembly of Copolymers Kurt Binder, Holger Frey, Andreas Kilbinger (Univ. Fribourg), Ute Kolb, Michael Maskos (IMM Mainz), Wolfgang Paul (Univ. Halle), Hans Wolfgang Spiess. Structure Formation of Polymeric Building Blocks II: Complex Polymer Architectures Kurt Binder, Hans Jurgen Butt, Angelika Kuhnle, Klaus Mullen, Wolfgang Paul (Univ. Halle), Erwin Schmidt, Manfred Schmidt, Hans Wolfgang Spiess, Thomas Vilgis. Structure Formation of Polymeric Building Blocks III: Polymer Complexes in Biological Applications Kurt Kremer, Heiko Luhmann, Christine Peter, Friederike Schmid, Erwin Schmidt, Manfred Schmidt, Eva Sinner (Univ. of Natural Resources, Vienna), Tanja Weil (Univ. Ulm).

This book presents the theory of soft matter to students at the advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate level. It provides a basic introduction to theoretical physics as applied to soft matter, explaining the concepts of symmetry, broken symmetry, and order parameters; phases and phase transitions; mean-field theory; and the mathematics of variational calculus and tensors. It is written in an informal, conversational style, which is accessible to students from a diverse range of backgrounds. The book begins with a simple "toy model" to demonstrate the physical significance of free energy. It then introduces two standard theories of phase transitions-the Ising model for ferromagnetism and van der Waals theory of gases and liquids-and uses them to illustrate principles of statistical mechanics. From those examples, it moves on to discuss order, disorder, and broken symmetry in many states of matter, and to explain the theoretical methods that are used to model the phenomena. It concludes with a chapter on liquid crystals, which brings together all of these physical and mathematical concepts. The book is accompanied online by a set of "interactive figures"-some allow readers to change parameters and see what happens to a graph, some allow readers to rotate a plot or other graphics in 3D, and some do both. These interactive figures help students to develop their intuition for the physical meaning of equations. This book will prepare advanced undergraduate or early graduate students to go into more advanced theoretical studies. It will also equip students going into experimental soft matter science to be fully conversant with the theoretical aspects and have effective collaborations with theorists.

Solid State Physics emphasizes a few fundamental principles and extracts from them a wealth of information. This approach also unifies an enormous and diverse subject which seems to consist of too many disjoint pieces. The book starts with the absolutely minimum of formal tools, emphasizes the basic principles, and employs physical reasoning (" a little thinking and imagination" to quote R. Feynman) to obtain results. Continuous comparison with experimental data leads naturally to a gradual refinement of the concepts and to more sophisticated methods. After the initial overview with an emphasis on the physical concepts and the derivation of results by dimensional analysis, The Physics of Solids deals with the Jellium Model (JM) and the Linear Combination of Atomic Orbitals (LCAO) approaches to solids and introduces the basic concepts and information regarding metals and semiconductors.

This book presents the physical and technical foundation of the state of the art in applied scanning probe techniques. It constitutes a timely and comprehensive overview of SPM applications. The chapters in this volume relate to scanning probe microscopy techniques, characterization of various materials and structures and typical industrial applications, including topographic and dynamical surface studies of thin-film semiconductors, polymers, paper, ceramics, and magnetic and biological materials. The chapters are written by leading researchers and application scientists from all over the world and from various industries to provide a broader perspective.

This book presents a unified view of the physicochemical origin of the mechanical behaviour of gases, simple solids and liquids, suspensions, polymers, emulsions, foams, and granular materials, along with techniques for measuring that behaviour. Besides molecular materials in all their classical gaseous, solid, or liquid states, we deal daily with a number of other materials made of coarser elements such as polymers, cells, grains, bubbles, and droplets. They take on the familiar appearance of paints, inks, cements, muds, foams, emulsions, toothpastes, gels, etc. These materials exhibit complex structures and sometimes amazing types of mechanical behaviour, often intermediate between those of a simple liquid and a simple solid. From a practical standpoint, the aim is to analyze their internal evolution (aging, restructuring, phase separation, etc.), then to formulate these materials in accordance with the desired properties, and thereby devise new materials. With that aim in mind, it is crucial to understand how these materials deform or flow, depending on the interactions and structures formed by the elements they contain. This book is intended for students as well as more advanced researchers in mechanics, physics, chemistry, and biology. The mathematical formalism is reduced in order to focus on physical explanations.

This book continues the biannual series of conference proceedings, which has become a classical reference resource in traffic and granular research alike, and addresses the latest developments at the intersection of physics, engineering and computational science. These involve complex systems, in which multiple simple agents, be they vehicles or particles, give rise to surprising and fascinating phenomena. The contributions collected in these proceedings cover several research fields, all of which deal with transport. Topics include highway, pedestrian and internet traffic; granular matter; biological transport; transport networks; data acquisition; data analysis and technological applications. Different perspectives, i.e., modeling, simulations, experiments, and phenomenological observations are considered.

1. Dynamic Force Microscopy and Spectroscopy using the Frequency-Modulation Technique in Air and Liquids.- 2. Colossal Permittivity in Advanced Functional Heterogeneous Materials: The Relevance of the Local Measurements at Submicron Scale.- 3. Scanning Probe Alloying Nanolithography.- 4. Controlling Wear on Nanoscale.- 5. Structural and Mechanical Mechanisms of Ocular Tissues Probed by AFM.- 6. Modern Atomic Force Microscopy and Its Application to the Study of Genome Architecture.- 7. Near-field Nanolitography.- 8. Photonic Force Microscopy: From Femtonewton Force Sensing to Ultra-Sensitive Spectroscopy.- 9. Simultaneous Topography and Recognition Imaging.- 10. Application of Contact Mode AFM to Manufacturing Processes.- 11. Mechanical Properties of One-dimensional Nanostructures.- 12. Contact Potential Difference Techniques as Probing Tools in Tribology and Surface Mapping.- 13. Force-extension (FX) and Force-clamp (FC) AFM Spectroscopies in Investigating Mechanochemical Reactions and Mechanical properties of Single Biomolecules.- 14. Scanning Probe Microscopy as a Tool Applied to Agriculture.- 15. Spin Charge Pairing Instabilities, Magnetism and Ferroelectricity in Nanoclusters, High-Tc Cuprates, Manganites and Multiferroic Nanomaterials.- 16. Combining Atomic Force Microscopy and Depth Sensing Instruments for the Nanometre Scale Mechanical Characterization of Soft Matter.- 17. Structuring the Surface of Crystallizable Polymers with an AFM Tip.- 18. Polarization-sensitive Tip-enhanced Raman Scattering.- 19. Static and Dynamic Structural Modeling Analysis of Atomic Force Microscope.- 20. Carbon Nanotube Atomic Force Microscopy with Applications to Biology and Electronics.- 21. Multilevel Experimental and Modelling Techniques for Bioartificial Scaffolds and Matrices.- 22. A New AFM Based Lithography Method: ThermoChemical NanoLithography.- 23. Novel Strategies to Probe the Fluid Properties and Revealing its Hidden Elasticity.- 24. Electrostatic Force Microscopy and Kelvin Force Microscopy as a Probe of the Electrostatic and Electronic Properties of Carbon Nanotubes.- 25. Quantized Mechanics of Nanotubes and Bundles.- 26. Experimental Methods for the Calibration of Lateral Forces in Atomic Force Microscopy.

concentrates on teaching techniques using as much theory as needed. application of the techniques to many problems of materials characterization. Moessbauer spectroscopy is a profound analytical method which has nevertheless continued to develop. The authors now present a state-of-the art book which consists of two parts. The first part details the fundamentals of Moessbauer spectroscopy and is based on a book published in 1978 in the Springer series 'Inorganic Chemistry Concepts' by P. Gutlich, R. Link and A.X. Trautwein. The second part covers useful practical aspects of measurements, and the application of the techniques to many problems of materials characterization. The update includes the use of synchroton radiation and many instructive and illustrative examples in fields such as solid state chemistry, biology and physics, materials and the geosciences, as well as industrial applications. Special chapters on magnetic relaxation phenomena (S. Morup) and computation of hyperfine interaction parameters (F. Neese) are also included. The book concentrates on teaching the technique using theory as much as needed and as little as possible. The reader will learn the fundamentals of the technique and how to apply it to many problems of materials characterization. Transition metal chemistry, studied on the basis of the most widely used Moessbauer isotopes, will be in the foreground.

Cutting edge research in cell and tissue research abounds in this review of the latest technological developments in the area. The chapters are written by excellent scientists on advanced, frontier technology and address scientific questions that require considerable engineering brainpower. The aim is to provide students and scientists working in academia and industry new information on bioengineering in cell and tissue research to enhance their understanding and innovation.

What is matter? Matter is the stuff from which we and all the things in the world are made. Everything around us, from desks, to books, to our own bodies are made of atoms, which are small enough that a million of them can fit across the breadth of a human hair. Inside every atom is a tiny nucleus and orbiting the nucleus is a cloud of electrons. The nucleus is made out of protons and neutrons, and by zooming in further you would find that inside each there are even smaller particles, quarks. Together with electrons, the quarks are the smallest particles that have been seen, and are the indivisible fundamental particles of nature that have existed since the Big Bang, almost 14 billion years ago. The 92 different chemical elements that all normal matter is made from were forged billions of years ago in the Big Bang, inside stars, and in violent stellar explosions. This Very Short Introduction takes us on a journey from the human scale of matter in the familiar everyday forms of solids, liquids, and gases to plasmas, exotic forms of quantum matter, and antimatter. On the largest scales matter is sculpted by gravity into planets, stars, galaxies, and vast clusters of galaxies. All the matter that that we normally encounter however constitutes only 5% of the matter that exists. The remaining 95% comes in two mysterious forms: dark matter, and dark energy. Dark matter is necessary to stop the galaxies from flying apart, and dark energy is needed to explain the observed acceleration of the expansion of the universe. Geoff Cottrell explores the latest research into matter, and shows that there is still a lot we don't know about the stuff our universe is made of. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

This edition of the private and scientific correspondence of Sir Rudolf Peierls gives a unique insight into the life and work of one of the greatest theoretical physicists of the 20th century. Rudolf Peierls' scientific work contributed to the early developments in quantum mechanics, and he is well known and much appreciated for his contributions to various disciplines, including solid state physics, nuclear physics, and particle physics. As an enthusiastic and devoted teacher, he passed on his knowledge and understanding and inspired the work of collaborators and students alike. As an effective administrator he was responsible, almost single-handedly, for the establishment of an outstanding successful centre of theoretical physics in Birmingham, and later contributed much to theoretical physics in Oxford.A meticulous collector of correspondence, Sir Rudolf left a fascinating collection of letters, in some cases spanning more than seven decades. This collection includes correspondence with his parents, his wife, the Russian-born physicist Genia Kannegieser, life-long friends such as Hans Bethe, and many great physicists, including Wolfgang Pauli, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Lev Landau, and George Placzek, to name but a few.The second volume, which covers the years 1945 to 1995, contains fascinating documents from the early postwar period, when Peierls, like many of his colleagues elsewhere, attempted to rebuild academic life in the aftermath of the Second World War. Materials from the 1950s provide evidence for the significance of the research undertaken by Peierls' group at Birmingham, and for the positive impact of his determined implementation of international exchange on the development of theoretical physics. Later documents illustrate the role played by Peierls in nuclear disarmament, and as a link between East and West through his own personal contacts and within international organisations such as the Pugwash Movement. The extensive apparatus provides an invaluable background which allows the reader to put the documents into their multi-faceted social, political and scientific context.

Liquid 4He and 3He are the purest Bose and Fermi liquids currently found in nature. Understanding their dynamics is fundamental to understanding more complex matter. This book provides an introduction to the subject and develops the theory of zero sound, phonons, rotons, spin and single particle excitations in quantum solids and fluids. Similarities between quantum solids and fluids are drawn wherever possible. Topics include dynamic response functions, neutron studies of solid helium, the nature of excitations in 3He, approximations to the dynamic susceptibility, and intermediate and high momentum transfer, among many others. In offering a critical comparison between theory and up-to-the-minute experimental data, the book provides a comprehensive assessment of our current understanding of collective and single particle excitations in quantum liquids and solids.