This Volume 44 of Advances in Solid State Physics contains the written versions of most of the invited lectures of the Spring Meeting of the Condensed Matter Physics section of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft held from March 8 to 12, 2004 in Regensburg, Germany. Many of the topical talks given at the numerous and very lively symposia are also included. They have covered extremely interesting and timely subjects. Thus the book truly reflects the status of the field of solid state physics in 2004, and indicates its importance, not only in Germany but also internationally.

Proceedings of the 1991 Cryogenic Engineering Conference held in Huntsville, Alabama, June 11-14, 1991.

In the future, many modern materials will be increasingly based on the assembly of preformed molecular entities. Their structural characteristics and functional prop- ties will be programmed at the molecular level and their formation as a completed entity will be achieved by self-assembly processes. This in essence is a bottom-up approach and its success will require a deep understanding not only of the chemistry of intermolecular interactions and associations but also of self-assembly processes in the condensed phase. Among various interesting innovations brought about by the development of supramolecular chemistry, supramolecular synthesis is a part- ularly powerful approach for the design and generation of molecular architectures displaying both structural and functional complexity. The combination of mol- ular synthesis (which allows chemists to design and prepare extremely sophis- cated biotic and abiotic molecules through the interconnection of atoms or group of atoms by strong covalent bonds) and supramolecular synthesis (which orch- trates the association of molecules by recognition processes through the use of weak and reversible interactions) opens up endless structural and functional possibilities. Following the perceptive observation by Dunitz that "A crystal is, in a sense, the supramolecule par excellence", molecular crystals may be seen as in?nite periodic architectures resulting from the interconnection of building blocks or tectons ca- ble of self-assembling through speci?c recognising events.

Lasers can readily remove very thin layers from small areas of a material and can thus be used both to control the structure of the surface and to determine its composition. Laser ablation thus has a wide variety of applications - from re-shaping the cornea of the eye to correct vision and micro-machining electronic devices, to detection of minute contaminants on catalysts. This book is the proceedings of one ofthe first workshops held on this topic.

The last two years have witnessed a continuation in the breakthrough shift toward pulse tube cryocoolers for long-life, high-reliability cryocooler applications. One class of pulse tubes that has reached maturity is referred to as "Stirling type" because they are based on the linear Oxford Stirling-cooler type compressor; these generally provide cooling in the 30 to 100 K temperature range and operate at frequencies from 30 to 60 Hz. The other type of pulse tube cooler making great advances is the so-called "Gifford-McMahon type. " Pulse tube coolers of this type use a G-M type compressor and lower frequency operation to achieve temperatures in the 2 to 10 K temperature range. Nearly a third of this proceedings covers these new developments in the pulse tube arena. Complementing the work on low-temperature pulse tubes is substantial continued progress on rare earth regenerator materials and Gifford-McMahon coolers. These technologies continue to make great progress in opening up the 2 - 4 K market. Also in the commercial sector, continued interest is being shown in the development of long-life, low-cost cryocoolers for the emerging high temperature superconductor electronics market, particularly the cellular telephone base-station market. At higher temperature levels, closed-cycle J-T or throttle-cycle refrigerators are taking advantage of mixed refrigerant gases to achieve low-cost cryocooler systems in the 65 to 80 K temperature range.

This volume contains the invited papers and selected contributed papers presented at the biennial International Symposium on ELECTRON COLLISIONS WITH MOLECULES, CLUSTERS AND SURF ACES held at Royal Holloway, University of London from 29th to 30th July, 1993. This Symposium was a Satellite Meeting of the XVIII International Conference on the Physics of Electronic and Atomic Collisions (ICPEAC) and follows a 16 year tradition of Satellite Conferences in related areas of collisions held in association with previous ICPEAC's. In the past each of these electron -molecule symposia covered the broad field of electron-molecule scattering at rather low energies, but also included hot topics. This time as well as covering the whole field, well defined electron collisions with clusters and with particles in the complex potential of a surface were emphasized. Not many details are known about such collisions, although they become more and more important in surface characterisation, plasma-wall interactions, electron induced desorption and reorganisation of adsorbed particles. Recently, much work, theoretical and experimental, has been devoted to electron collisions with rather large carbon, silicon and halogen containing molecules. These problems are of relevance in plasma assisted thin film formation and etching of surfaces and can now be approached with advanced theoretical methods and experimental equipment.

Multiple scattering of waves is a rapidly growing field with many applications. The research group "Propagation of Waves in Disordered and/or Nonlinear Media" POAN brought together experts from different disciplines to write this review which covers applied mathematics, optics, acoustics, remote sensing, and seismology.

Molecular similarity has always been an important conceptual tool of chemists, yet systematic approaches to molecular similarity problems have only recently been recognized as a major contributor to our understanding of molecular properties. Advanced approaches to molecular similarity analysis have their foundation in quantum similarity measures, and are important direct or indirect contributors to some of the predictive theoretical, computational, and also experimental methods of modern chemistry. This volume provides a survey of the foundations and the contemporary mathematical and computational methodologies of molecular similarity approaches, where special emphasis is given to applications of similarity studies to a range of practical and industrially significant fields, such as pharmaceutical drug design. The authors of individual chapters are leading experts in various sub-fields of molecular similarity analysis and the related fundamental theoretical chemistry topics, as well as the relevant computational and experimental methodologies. Whereas in each chapter the emphasis is placed on a different area, nevertheless, the overall coverage and the wide scope of the book provides the reader with a general yet sufficiently detailed description that may serve as a good starting point for new studies and applications of molecular similarity approaches. The editors of this volume are grateful to the authors for their contributions, and hope that the readers will find this book a useful and motivating source of information in the rapidly growing field of molecular similarity analysis.

At first glance, the articles in this book may appear to have nothing in common. They cover such seemingly disparate subjects as the properties of small metallic clusters and the behavior of superfluid He3, nuclear physics and organic materials, copper oxides and mag netic resonance. Why have they been brought together, particUlarly in our time of narrow spe cialization? In fact, the properties and effects described in this book touch upon one and the same fundamental phenomenon: pair correlation. Introduced in the theory of superconductivity by J. Bardeen, L. Cooper, and J. Schrieffer (BCS), this effect plays a key role in various Fermi systems. The book consists of several sections. The first chapter is concerned with conven tional and high Tc superconductors. The second chapter describes two relatively young fami lies of superconductors: organics and fullerenes. Chapter III addresses the superfluidity of 3 He * The discovery of this phenomenon in 1971 was a big event in physics and last year was acknowledged by a Nobel prize. This book contains the text of the Nobel lecture. Chapters IV and V are devoted to correlations in finite Fermi systems such as small metallic clusters, C 60 anions, and atomic nuclei. The book thus covers a broad range of problems, illuminating the close ties between various areas of physics.

This book is an outcome of the International Workshop on Electronic Density Functional Theory, held at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, in July 1996. Density functional theory, standing as it does at the boundary between the disciplines of physics, chemistry, and materials science, is a great mixer. Invited experts from North America, Europe, and Australia mingled with students from several disciplines, rapidly taking up the informal style for which Australia is famous. A list of participants is given at the end of the book. Density functional theory (DFT) is a subtle approach to the very difficult problem of predicting the behavior of many interacting particles. A major application is the study of many-electron systems. This was the workshop theme, embracing inter alia computational chemistry and condensed matter physics. DFT circumvents the more conceptually straightforward (but more computationally intensive) approach in which one solves the many-body Schrodinger equation. It relies instead on rather delicate considerations involving the electron number density. For many years the pioneering work of Kohn and Sham (the Local Density Ap proximation of 1965 and immediate extensions) represented the state of the art in DFT. This approach was widely used for its appealing simplicity and computability, but gave rather modest accuracy. In the last few years there has been a renaissance of interest, quite largely due to the remarkable success of the new generation of gradient functionals whose initiators include invitees to the workshop (Perdew, Parr, Yang)."

''Intended mainly for physicists and mathematicians...its high quality will definitely attract a wider audience.'' ---Computational Mathematics and Mathematical Physics This work acquaints the physicist with the mathematical principles of algebraic topology, group theory, and differential geometry, as applicable to research in field theory and the theory of condensed matter. Emphasis is placed on the topological structure of monopole and instanton solution to the Yang-Mills equations, the description of phases in superfluid 3He, and the topology of singular solutions in 3He and liquid crystals.

The papers in this volume were presented at the Second International Conference on Unconventional Photoactive Solids held at the R&D Center of BP America September 9-12, 1985. It was part of an on-going series of conferences with the main aim of stressing the Interrelationship of solid state physics and solid state chemistry. The choice of topics covered a broad range of light-Induced solid state phenomena with particular emphasis on novel materials and/or novel phenomena. Organic solids, in particular, were emphasized as they are a natural meeting point of solid state physics and chemistry. A general trend In solid state physics Is to more complex materials (e.g. nonequilibrium glassy films, complicated unit cells, extended molecular building blocks, etc.). This trend necessitates the closer interaction between physicists and chemists. This conference reflects this trend quite dramatically. It is a new grouping together of a mix of materials, people and experimental approaches. A typical new theme pulling together this new mix can be seen in Part I. Fractals in Disordered Media. A variety of disordered media give rise to unusual temporal patterns of diffusion and reactions. The more familiar spatial patterns of self-similarity are discussed in the first article by M.F. Barnsley. Another topic pulling together a diverse group of scientists is covered in Part II. Spectral Hole-Burning. A number of leaders in this field are represented In these three papers.

The first Nato Advanced Studies Institute entirely devoted to density functional theory was held in Portugal in September 1983. The proceedings of this School, publis hed in early 1985, is still used as a standard reference covering the basic development of the theory and applications in atomic, molecular, solid state and nuclear physics. Ho wever, astonishing progress has been achieved in the intervening years: The foundations of the theory have been extended to cover excited states and time dependent problems more fully, density functional theory of classical liquids and superconducting systems has been addressed and extensions to relativistic, that is, field theoretical systems, as well as a more thorough discussion of magnetic field problems have been presented. In addition, new functionals have been devised, for instance under the heading of ge neralised gradient expansions, and the number of applications in the traditional fields has steadily increased, in particular in chemistry. Applications in new fields, as for instance the structure of atomic clusters and the marriage of density functional theory with molecular dynamics and simulated annealing, have provided additional impetus to the field of density functional theory."

The last twenty years have seen major advances in the electronics industry. Perhaps the most significant aspect of these advances has been the significant role that electronic equipment plays in almost all product markets. Even though electronic equipment is used in a broad base of applications, many future applications have yet to be conceived. This versatility of electron ics has been brought about primarily by the significant advances that have been made in integrated circuit technology. The electronic product user is rarely aware of the integrated circuits within the equipment. However, the user is often very aware of the size, weight, mod ularity, maintainability, aesthetics, and human interface features of the product. In fact, these are aspects of the products that often are instrumental in deter mining its success or failure in the marketplace. Optimizing these and other product features is the primary role of Electronic Equipment Packaging Technology. As the electronics industry continues to pro vide products that operate faster than their predecessors in a smaller space with a reduced cost per function, the role of electronic packaging technology will assume an even greater role in the development of cost-effective products.

This brief offers a concise presentation of granular fluids from the point of view of non-equilibrium statistical physics. The emphasis is on fluctuations, which can be large in granular fluids due to the small system size (the number of grains is many orders of magnitude smaller than in molecular fluids). Firstly, readers will be introduced to the most intriguing experiments on fluidized granular fluids. Then granular fluid theory, which goes through increasing levels of coarse-graining and emerging collective phenomena, is described. Problems and questions are initially posed at the level of kinetic theory, which describes particle densities in full or reduced phase-space. Some answers become clear through hydrodynamics, which describes the evolution of slowly evolving fields. Granular fluctuating hydrodynamics, which builds a bridge to the most recent results in non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, is also introduced. Further and more interesting answers come when the dynamics of a massive intruder are discussed. Such non-equilibrium stochastic process offers a more precise and compact picture of the features foreseen at the more detailed levels of description. The dynamics of an intruder diffusing in a granular fluid reveal the clearest connection with recent theories on stochastic energetics and stochastic thermodynamics.

The International Conference on Strongly Coupled Coulomb Systems was held on the campus of Boston College in Newton, Massachusetts, August 3-10, 1997. Although this conference was the first under a new name, it was the continuation of a series of international meetings on strongly coupled plasmas and other Coulomb systems that started with the NATO Summer Institute on Strongly Coupled Plasmas, almost exactly twenty years prior to this conference, in July of 1977 in Orleans la Source, France. Over the intervening period the field of strongly coupled plasmas has developed vigorously. In the 1977 meeting the emphasis was on computer (Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics) simulations which provided, for the first time, insight into the rich and new physics of strongly coupled fully ionizedplasmas. While theorists scrambled to provide a theoretical underpinning for these results, there was also a dearth of real experimental input to reinforce the computer simulations. Over the past few years this situation has changed drastically and a variety of direct experiments on classical, pure, strongly correlated plasma systems (charged particle traps, dusty plasmas, electrons on the surface of liquid helium, etc. ) have become available. Even more importantly, entire new area of experimental interest in condensed matter physics have opened up through developments in nano-technology and the fabrication of low-dimensional systems, where the physical behavior, in many ways, is similar to that in classical plasmas. Strongly coupled plasma physics has always been an interdisciplinaryactivity.

Nanostructures refer to materials that have relevant dimensions on the nanometer length scales and reside in the mesoscopic regime between isolated atoms and molecules in bulk matter. These materials have unique physical properties that are distinctly different from bulk materials. Self-Assembled Nanostructures provides systematic coverage of basic nanomaterials science including materials assembly and synthesis, characterization, and application. Suitable for both beginners and experts, it balances the chemistry aspects of nanomaterials with physical principles. It also highlights nanomaterial-based architectures including assembled or self-assembled systems. Filled with in-depth discussion of important applications of nano-architectures as well as potential applications ranging from physical to chemical and biological systems, Self-Assembled Nanostructures is the essential reference or text for scientists involved with nanostructures.

Cryocoolers 10 is the premier archival publication of the latest advances and performance of small cryogenic refrigerators designed to provide localized cooling for military, space, semi-conductor, medical, computing, and high-temperature superconductor cryogenic applications in the 2-200 K temperature range. Composed of papers written by leading engineers and scientists in the field, Cryocoolers 10 reports the most recent advances in cryocooler development, contains extensive performance test results and comparisons, and relates the latest experience in integrating cryocoolers into advanced applications.

The ninth International Cryogenic Materials Conference (ICMC) was held on the campus of the University of Alabama at Huntsville (UAH) in collaboration with the Cryogenic Engineering Conference (CEC) on June 11-14, 1991. The continuing bond between these two major conferences in the field of cryogenics is indicative of the extreme interdependence of their subject matter. The major purpose of the conference is sharing of the latest advances in low temperature materials science and technology. However, the many side benefits which accrue when this many experts gather, such as identification of new research areas, formation of new collaborations which often cross the boundaries of both scientific discipline and politics, and a chance for those new to the field to meet the old-timers, may override the stated purpose. This 1991 ICMC was chaired by F. R. Fickett of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. K. T. Hartwig, of Texas A&M served as Program Chairman with the assistance of eleven other Program Committee members. We especially appreciate the contributions of the CEC board and its Conference Chairman, J. Hendricks of Alabama Cryogenic Engineering, to the organization. of this joint conference. UAH hosted the conference. The local arrangements and management, under the watchful eye of Ann Yelle and Mary Beth Magathan of the UAH conference staff, were excellent. Participation in the CEC/ICMC continues to exceed expectations with 650 registrants for the combined conference.

Dynamics of Soft Matter: Neutron Applications provides an overview of neutron scattering techniques that measure temporal and spatial correlations simultaneously, at the microscopic and/or mesoscopic scale. These techniques offer answers to new questions arising at the interface of physics, chemistry, and biology. Knowledge of the dynamics at these levels is crucial to understanding the soft matter field, which includes colloids, polymers, membranes, biological macromolecules, foams, emulsions towards biological & biomimetic systems, and phenomena involving wetting, friction, adhesion, or microfluidics. Emphasizing the complementarities of scattering techniques with other spectroscopic ones, this volume also highlights the potential gain in combining techniques such as rheology, NMR, light scattering, dielectric spectroscopy, as well as synchrotron radiation experiments. Key areas covered include polymer science, biological materials, complex fluids and surface science.

Focusing on the purely theoretical aspects of strongly correlated electrons, this volume brings together a variety of approaches to models of the Hubbard type - i.e., problems where both localized and delocalized elements are present in low dimensions. The chapters are arranged in three parts. The first part deals with two of the most widely used numerical methods in strongly correlated electrons, the density matrix renormalization group and the quantum Monte Carlo method. The second part covers Lagrangian, Functional Integral, Renormalization Group, Conformal, and Bosonization methods that can be applied to one-dimensional or weakly coupled chains. The third part considers functional derivatives, mean-field, self-consistent methods, slave-bosons, and extensions.

Currently this is "the" book providing a thorough introduction and a unified theoretical basis for the interpretation of equilibrium transport processes in amorphous hydrogenated tetrahydrally coordinated semiconductors - a topic of great interest to physicists and material scientists (first devices for practical applications are already being manufactured). Most of the relevant literature is reviewed with particular emphasis on the approach developed by the authors. It explains most of the experimental data and allows the extraction of information about microscopic transport processes and parameters from equilibrium transport data. This work treats electronic transport in the mentioned type of semiconductors and in particular in a-Si: H and a-Ge: H. From elementary concepts the theory is developed towards higher degrees of completeness and sophistication. Further refinements for coping with the complexity of real systems are given. The comparison of theory with experiment is an important part of the book.

This book is addressed to all scientists interested in the use of high magnetic ?elds and in the use of high-?eld facilities around the world. In particular it will help young scientists and newcomers to the topic to gain a better understanding in areas such as condensed matter physics, in which the magnetic ?eld plays a key role either as a parameter controlling the Hamiltonian, or as an experimental tool to probe the underlying mechanism. This concerns mostly strongly correlated and (or) low dimensional systems. Rather than covering all these subjects in detail, the philosophy here is to give essential physical concepts in some of the most active ?elds, which have been quickly growing in the last ten to twenty years. Besides its role as a physical parameter in condensed matter physics, a large magnetic ?eld is essential to Electron Paramagentic Resonance (EPR) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopies. The state of art of high resolution NMRin liquids and solids and high frequency EPRapplied to ?elds like chemistry and biology are also reviewed in this volume. The ?rst series of chapters is devoted to the integer and the Fractional Qu- tum Hall E?ects (FQHE) in two-dimensional electron systems. C. Glattli brushes an historical background and a comprehensive review of transport phenomena in these systems, including recent developments on the mesoscopic electronic transport at the edges of quantum Hall samples, chiral Luttinger liquids and fractional excitations. R.

"Molecular Sieves - Science and Technology" will cover, in a comprehensive manner, the science and technology of zeolites and all related microporous and mesoporous materials. Authored by renowned experts, the contributions will be grouped together topically in such a way that each volume of the book series will be dealing with a specific sub-field. Volume 2 covers both the description of the various, complementary techniques for structure determination of microporous and mesoporous matter and their applications illustrated by a large number of pertinent examples. It also deals with general aspects of structures and structure distortions of microporous materials. In summary, Volume 2 provides the researchers in the field of zeolites and related materials with the indispensable knowledge of the great potential of modern methods for structure analysis.