This book offers a comprehensive overview of thermodynamics. It is divided into four parts, the first of which equips readers with a deeper understanding of the fundamental principles of thermodynamics of equilibrium states and of their evolution. The second part applies these principles to a series of generalized situations, presenting applications that are of interest both in their own right and in terms of demonstrating how thermodynamics, as a theory of principle, relates to different fields. In turn, the third part focuses on non-equilibrium configurations and the dynamics of natural processes. It discusses both discontinuous and continuous systems, highlighting the interference among non-equilibrium processes, and the nature of stationary states and of fluctuations in isolated systems. Lastly, part four introduces the relation between physics and information theory, which constitutes a new frontier in fundamental research. The book includes step-by-step exercises, with solutions, to help readers to gain a fuller understanding of the subjects, and also features a series of appendices providing useful mathematical formulae. Reflecting the content of modern university courses on thermodynamics, it is a valuable resource for students and young scientists in the fields of physics, chemistry, and engineering.

This is the first text on the modern theory of superconductivity. It deals with the behaviour of superconductors in external fields varying in time, and with transport phenomena in superconductors. The book starts with the fundamentals of the first-principle, microscopic theory of superconductivity, and guides the reader through the modern theoretical analysis directly to applications of the theory to practical problems.

This thesis explores several fundamental topics in mesoscopic circuitries that incorporate few electronic conduction channels. It reports a series of long-awaited experiments that establish a new state of the art. The first experiments address the quantized character of charge in circuits. We demonstrate the charge quantization criterion, observe the predicted charge quantization scaling and a crossover toward a universal behavior as temperature is increased. The second set of experiments addresses the unconventional quantum critical physics that arises in the multichannel Kondo model. We observe the predicted universal Kondo fixed points and validate the numerical renormalization group scaling curves. Away from the quantum critical point, we obtain a direct visualization of the development of a second-order quantum phase transition.

In this thesis, ultimate sensitive measurement for weak force imposed on a suspended mirror is performed with the help of a laser and an optical cavity for the development of gravitational-wave detectors. According to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, such measurements are subject to a fundamental noise called quantum noise, which arises from the quantum nature of a probe (light) and a measured object (mirror). One of the sources of quantum noise is the quantum back-action, which arises from the vacuum fluctuation of the light. It sways the mirror via the momentum transferred to the mirror upon its reflection for the measurement. The author discusses a fundamental trade-off between sensitivity and stability in the macroscopic system, and suggests using a triangular cavity that can avoid this trade-off. The development of an optical triangular cavity is described and its characterization of the optomechanical effect in the triangular cavity is demonstrated. As a result, for the first time in the world the quantum back-action imposed on the 5-mg suspended mirror is significantly evaluated. This work contributes to overcoming the standard quantum limit in the future.

In this thesis, the author investigates hidden-order phase transition at" T"0 = 17.5 K in the heavy-fermion URu2Si2. The four-fold rotational symmetry breaking in the hidden order phase, which imposes a strong constraint on the theoretical model, is observed through the magnetic torque measurement. The translationally invariant phase with broken rotational symmetry is interpreted as meaning that the hidden-order phase is an electronic "nematic" phase. The observation of such nematicity in URu2Si2 indicates a ubiquitous nature among the strongly correlated electron systems.

The author also studies the superconducting state of URu2Si2 below" T"c = 1.4 K, which coexists with the hidden-order phase. A peculiar vortex penetration in the superconducting state is found, which may be related to the rotational symmetry breaking in the hidden-order phase. The author also identifies a vortex lattice melting transition. This transport study provides essential clues to the underlying issue of quasiparticle dynamics as to whether a quasiparticle Bloch state is realized in the periodic vortex lattice.

This thesis represents a decisive breakthrough in our understanding of the physics of universal quantum-mechanical three-body systems. The Efimov scenario is a prime example of how fundamental few-body physics features universally across seemingly disparate fields of modern quantum physics. Initially postulated for nuclear physics more than 40 years ago, the Efimov effect has now become a new research paradigm not only in ultracold atomic gases but also in molecular, biological and condensed matter systems. Despite a lot of effort since its first observations, the scaling behavior, which is a hallmark property and often referred to as the "holy grail" of Efimov physics, remained hidden until recently. In this work, the author demonstrates this behavior for the first time for a heteronuclear mixture of ultracold Li and Cs atoms, and pioneers the experimental understanding of microscopic, non-universal properties in such systems. Based on the application of Born-Oppenheimer approximation, well known from molecular physics textbooks, an exceptionally clear and intuitive picture of heteronuclear Efimov physics is revealed.

This highly interdisciplinary thesis covers a wide range of topics relating to the interface of cold atoms, quantum simulation, quantum magnetism and disorder. With a self-contained presentation, it provides a broad overview of the rapidly evolving area of cold atoms and is of interest to both undergraduates and researchers working in the field. Starting with a general introduction to the physics of cold atoms and optical lattices, it extends the theory to that of systems with different multispecies atoms. It advances the theory of many-body quantum systems in excited bands (of optical lattices) through an extensive study of the properties of both the mean-field and strongly correlated regimes. Particular emphasis is given to the context of quantum simulation, where as shown here, the orbital degree of freedom in excited bands allows the study of exotic models of magnetism not easily achievable with the previous alternative systems. In addition, it proposes a new model Hamiltonian that serves as a quantum simulator of various disordered systems in different symmetry classes that can easily be reproduced experimentally. This is of great interest, especially for the study of disorder in 2D quantum systems.

In the past decade, there has been a burst of new and fascinating physics associated to the unique properties of two-dimensional exciton polaritons, their recent demonstration of condensation under non-equilibrium conditions and all the related quantum phenomena, which have stimulated extensive research work. This monograph summarizes the current state of the art of research on exciton polaritons in microcavities: their interactions, fast dynamics, spin-dependent phenomena, temporal and spatial coherence, condensation under non-equilibrium conditions, related collective quantum phenomena and most advanced applications. The monograph is written by the most active authors who have strongly contributed to the advances in this area. It is of great interests to both physicists approaching this subject for the first time, as well as a wide audience of experts in other disciplines who want to be updated on this fast moving field.

This thesis describes how to create and probe novel phases of matter and exotic (non-quasiparticle) behavior in cold atomic gases. It focuses on situations whose physics is relevant to condensed matter systems, and where open questions about these latter systems can be addressed. It also attempts to better understand several experimental anomalies in condensed matter systems.

The thesis is divided into five parts. The first section or chapter of each part gives an introduction to the motivation and background for the physics of that part; the last section or chapter gives an outlook for future studies. Parts 1-4 introduce and show different facets of how to learn about novel physics relevant to condensed matter using cold atomic systems. Part 5 constrains explanations of several ill-understood phenomena occurring in low-temperature quantum solids and condensed matter systems and attempts to construct mechanisms for their behavior.

The study of quantum fluids, stimulated by the discovery of superfluidity in liquid helium, has experienced renewed interest after the observation of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in ultra-cold atomic gases and the observation a new type of quantum fluid with specific characteristics derived from its intrinsic out-of-equilibrium nature. The main objective of this book is to take a snapshot of the state-of-the-art of this fast moving field with a special emphasis on the hot topics and new trends. Bringing together the most active specialists of the two areas (atomic and polaritonic quantum fluids), we expect that this book will facilitate the exchange and the collaboration between these two communities working on subjects with very strong analogies.

Cold atomic gases trapped and manipulated on atom chips allow the realization of seminal one-dimensional (1d) quantum many-body problems in an isolated and well controlled environment. In this context, this thesis presents an extensive experimental study of non-equilibrium dynamics in 1d Bose gases, with a focus on processes that go beyond simple dephasing dynamics. It reports on the observation of recurrences of coherence in the post-quench dynamics of a pair of 1d Bose gases and presents a detailed study of their decay. The latter represents the first observation of phonon-phonon scattering in these systems. Furthermore, the thesis investigates a novel cooling mechanism occurring in Bose gases subjected to a uniform loss of particles. Together, the results presented show a wide range of non-equilibrium phenomena occurring in 1d Bose gases and establish them as an ideal testbed for many-body physics beyond equilibrium.

This book provides an attempt to convey the colorful facets of condensed matter systems with reduced dimensionality. Some of the specific features predicted for interacting one-dimensional electron systems, such as charge- and spin-density waves, have been observed in many quasi-one-dimensional materials. The two-dimensional world is even richer: besides d-wave superconductivity and the Quantum Hall Effect - perhaps the most spectacular phases explored during the last two decades - many collective charge and spin states have captured the interest of researchers, such as charge stripes or spontaneously generated circulating currents.

Recent years have witnessed important progress in material preparation, measurement techniques and theoretical methods. Today larger and better samples, higher flux for neutron beams, advanced light sources, better resolution in electron spectroscopy, new computational algorithms, and the development of field-theoretical approaches allow an in-depth analysis of the complex many-body behaviour of low-dimensional materials. The epoch when simple mean-field arguments were sufficient for describing the gross features observed experimentally is definitely over.

The Editors' aim is to thoroughly explain a number of selected topics: the application of dynamical probes, such as neutron scattering, optical absorption and photoemission, as well as transport studies, both electrical and thermal. Some of the more theoretical chapters are directly relevant for experiments, such as optical spectroscopy, transport in one-dimensional models, and the phenomenology of charge inhomogeneities in layered materials, while others discuss more general topics and methods, for example the concept of a Luttinger liquid and bosonization, or duality transformations, both promising tools for treating strongly interacting many-body systems.

A number of interrelated areas of low temperature physics are brought together in this volume. The four topics are presented as separate chapters. First is the study of the Kibble-Zurek mechanism for defect formation following quench cooling of superfluid 3He and its relation to quantum field theory. Properties of heavy fermion materials are described next with special attention to the competition between magnetism and superconductivity. Some of the newest correlated electron systems are discussed and the arguments for possible unconventional nature of the superconducting order parameter are presented for these systems, including the novel coexistence of ferromagnetism and superconductivity. Highly polarized degenerate Fermi liquids are of substantial interest in many areas of physics. The most complete description of observations of thermodynamic and transport phenomena are reviewed here for the case of polarized liquid 3He obtained by rapid melting from a polarized solid and subsequent rapid refrigeration. Properties of the melting curve of 3He, and the related technique of melting curve thermometry are described in detail.
- Superfluid 3He and Quantum Field Theory
- Large Scale structure of the Universe
- Unconventional Superconductivity
- Heavy Fermions
- Quantum Phase Transitions
- Polarized Fermi Liquids
- Rapid Melting
- 3He Melting Curve
- Low Temperature Thermometry

The problem of conventional, low-temperature superconductivity has been regarded as solved since the seminal work of Bardeen, Cooper, and Schrieffer (BCS) more than 50 years ago. However, the theory does not allow accurate predictions of some of the most fundamental properties of a superconductor, including the superconducting energy gap on the Fermi surface. This thesis describes the development and scientific implementation of a new experimental method that puts this old problem into an entirely new light. The nominee has made major contributions to the development and implementation of a new experimental method that enhances the resolution of spectroscopic experiments on dispersive lattice-vibrational excitations (the "glue" responsible for Cooper pairing of electrons in conventional superconductors) by more than two orders of magnitude. Using this method, he has discovered an unexpected relationship between the superconducting energy gap and the geometry of the Fermi surface in the normal state, both of which leave subtle imprints in the lattice vibrations that could not be resolved by conventional spectroscopic methods. He has confirmed this relationship on two elemental superconductors and on a series of metallic alloys. This indicates that a mechanism qualitatively beyond the standard BCS theory determines the magnitude and anisotropy of the superconducting gap.

This book is about the work of 10 great scientists; who they were and are, their personal background and how they achieved their outstanding results and took their prominent place in science history. We follow one of physics and science history's most enigmatic phenomena, superconductivity, through 100 years, from its discovery in 1911 to the present, not as a history book in the usual sense, but through close ups of the leading characters and their role in that story, the Nobel laureates, who were still among us in the years 2001-2004 when the main round of interviews was carried out. Since then two of them already passed away. For each one of the 10 laureates, the author tells their story by direct quotation from interviews in their own words. Each chapter treats one laureate. The author first gives a brief account of the laureates' scientific background and main contribution. Then each laureate tells his own story in his own words. This book is unique in its approach to science history.

The birth of this monograph is partly due to the persistent efforts of the General Editor, Dr. Klaus Timmerhaus, to persuade the authors that they encapsulate their forty or fifty years of struggle with the thermal properties of materials into a book before they either expired or became totally senile. We recognize his wisdom in wanting a monograph which includes the closely linked properties of heat capacity and thermal expansion, to which we have added a little 'cement' in the form of elastic moduli. There seems to be a dearth of practitioners in these areas, particularly among physics postgraduate students, sometimes temporarily alleviated when a new generation of exciting materials are found, be they heavy fermion compounds, high temperature superconductors, or fullerenes. And yet the needs of the space industry, telecommunications, energy conservation, astronomy, medical imaging, etc., place demands for more data and understanding of these properties for all classes of materials - metals, polymers, glasses, ceramics, and mixtures thereof. There have been many useful books, including Specific Heats at Low Tempera tures by E. S. Raja Gopal (1966) in this Plenum Cryogenic Monograph Series, but few if any that covered these related topics in one book in a fashion designed to help the cryogenic engineer and cryophysicist. We hope that the introductory chapter will widen the horizons of many without a solid state background but with a general interest in physics and materials."

This thesis unites the fields of optical atomic clocks and ultracold molecular science, laying the foundation for optical molecular measurements of unprecedented precision. Building upon optical manipulation techniques developed by the atomic clock community, this work delves into attaining surgical control of molecular quantum states. The thesis develops two experimental observables that one can measure with optical-lattice-trapped ultracold molecules: extremely narrow optical spectra, and angular distributions of photofragments that are ejected when the diatomic molecules are dissociated by laser light pulses. The former allows molecular spectroscopy approaching the level of atomic clocks, leading into molecular metrology and tests of fundamental physics. The latter opens the field of ultracold chemistry through observation of quantum effects such as matter-wave interference of photofragments and tunneling through reaction barriers. The thesis also describes a discovery of a new method of thermometry that can be used near absolute zero temperatures for particles lacking cycling transitions, solving a long-standing experimental problem in atomic and molecular physics.

This book demonstrates how the new phenomena in superconductivity on the nanometer scale (FFLO state, triplet superconductivity, Crossed Andreev Reflection, synchronized generation etc.) serve as the basis for the invention and development of novel nanoelectronic devices and systems. It demonstrates how rather complex ideas and theoretical models, like odd-pairing, non-uniform superconducting state, pi-shift etc., adequately describe the processes in real superconducting nanostructues and novel devices based on them. The book is useful for a broad audience of readers, researchers, engineers, PhD-students, lectures and others who would like to gain knowledge in the frontiers of superconductivity at the nanoscale.

This thesis presents results crucial to the emerging field of indirect excitons. These specially designed quasiparticles give the unique opportunity to study fundamental properties of quantum degenerate Bose gases in semiconductors. Furthermore, indirect excitons allow for the creation of novel optoelectronic devices where excitons are used in place of electrons. Excitonic devices are explored for the development of advanced signal processing seamlessly coupled with optical communication. The thesis presents and describes the author's imaging experiments that led to the discovery of spin transport of excitons. The many firsts presented herein include the first studies of an excitonic conveyer, leading to the discovery of the dynamical localization-delocalization transition for excitons, and the first excitonic ramp and excitonic diode with no energy-dissipating voltage gradient.

Presents experiment, theory and technology in a unified manner.

Contains numerous illustrations, tables and references as well as carefully selected problems for students.

Surveys the fascinating historical development of the field.

A broad introduction to high Tc superconductors, their parent compounds and related novel materials, covering both fundamental questions of modern solid state physics (such as correlation effects, fluctuations, unconventional symmetry of superconducting order parameter) and applied problems related to short coherence length, grain boundaries and thin films. The information that can be derived from electron spectroscopy and optical measurements is illustrated and explained in detail. Descriptions widely employ the clear, relatively simple, phenomenological Ginzburg-Landau model of complex phenomena, such as vortex physics, vortex charge determination, plasmons in superconductors, Cooper pair mass, and wetting of surfaces. The first comprehensive reviews of several novel classes of materials are presented, including borocarbides and chain cuprates.

The nature of dark matter remains one of the preeminent mysteries in physics and cosmology. It appears to require the existence of new particles whose interactions to ordinary matter are extraordinarily feeble. One well-motivated candidate is the axion, an extraordinarily light neutral particle that may possibly be detected by looking for their conversion to detectable microwaves in the presence of a strong magnetic field. This has led to a number of experimental searches that are beginning to probe plausible axion model space and may discover the axion in the near future. These proceedings discuss the challenges of designing and operating tunable resonant cavities and detectors at ultralow temperatures. The topics discussed here have potential application far beyond the field of dark matter detection and may be applied to resonant cavities for accelerators as well as designing superconducting detectors for quantum information and computing applications. This work is intended for graduate students and researchers interested in learning the unique requirements for designing and operating microwave cavities and detectors for direct axion searches and to introduce several proposed experimental concepts that are still in the prototype stage.

This thesis demonstrates a full Mach-Zehnder interferometer with interacting Bose-Einstein condensates confined on an atom chip. It relies on the coherent manipulation of atoms trapped in a magnetic double-well potential, for which the author developed a novel type of beam splitter. Particle-wave duality enables the construction of interferometers for matter waves, which complement optical interferometers in precision measurement devices, both for technological applications and fundamental tests. This requires the development of atom-optics analogues to beam splitters, phase shifters and recombiners. Particle interactions in the Bose-Einstein condensate lead to a nonlinearity, absent in photon optics. This is exploited to generate a non-classical state with reduced atom-number fluctuations inside the interferometer. This state is then used to study the interaction-induced dephasing of the quantum superposition. The resulting coherence times are found to be a factor of three longer than expected for coherent states, highlighting the potential of entanglement as a resource for quantum-enhanced metrology.

Molecular Theory of Solvation presents the recent progress in the statistical mechanics of molecular liquids applied to the most intriguing problems in chemistry today, including chemical reactions, conformational stability of biomolecules, ion hydration, and electrode-solution interface. The continuum model of "solvation" has played a dominant role in describing chemical processes in solution during the last century. This book discards and replaces it completely with molecular theory taking proper account of chemical specificity of solvent.

The main machinery employed here is the reference-interaction-site-model (RISM) theory, which is combined with other tools in theoretical chemistry and physics: the ab initio and density functional theories in quantum chemistry, the generalized Langevin theory, and the molecular simulation techniques.

This book will be of benefit to graduate students and industrial scientists who are struggling to find a better way of accounting and/or predicting "solvation" properties.