Quantum Mechanics of Non-Hamiltonian and Dissipative Systems is self-contained and can be used by students without a previous course in modern mathematics and physics. The book describes the modern structure of the theory, and covers the fundamental results of last 15 years. The book has been recommended by Russian Ministry of Education as the textbook for graduate students and has been used for graduate student lectures from 1998 to 2006.
Requires no preliminary knowledge of graduate and advanced mathematics
Discusses the fundamental results of last 15 years in this theory
Suitable for courses for undergraduate students as well as graduate students and specialists in physics mathematics and other sciences

Advances in Imaging and Electron Physics merges two long-running serials-Advances in Electronics and Electron Physics and Advances in Optical and Electron Microscopy. This series features extended articles on the physics of electron devices (especially semiconductor devices), particle optics at high and low energies, microlithography, image science and digital image processing, electromagnetic wave propagation, electron microscopy, and the computing methods used in all these domains.
Publication of this 150th volume is an event to be celebrated and, to mark the occasion, the editor has brought together leaders of some of the main themes of past and hopefully of future volumes: electron microscopy, since Ladislaus Marton was one of the pioneers; mathematical morphology, which has often appeared in this series and also fills a supplement, so often cited that it usually appears just as "Academic Press, 1994" (H.J.A.M. Heijmans, Morphological Image Operators, Supplement 25, 1994) with no mention of the Advances; ptychography, a highly original approach to the phase problem, the latter also the subject of a much cited Supplement (W.O. Saxton, 'Computer Techniques for Image Processing in Electron Microscopy', Supplement 10, 1978); and wavelets, which have become a subject in their own right, not just a tool in image processing.
* Updated with contributions from leading international scholars and industry experts
* Discusses hot topic areas and presents current and future research trends
* Invaluable reference and guide for physicists, engineers and mathematicians

Thin Metallic multilayer films have become an important part in today's computer technology. The giant magnetoresistance (GMR) effect, which plays a central role here, was discovered in the late 1980s. This can be essentially described as the effect of a magnetic field on the electron transport leading to significant changes in the resistance. Other aspects of multilayers systems, such as stability, growth, confinement are also addressed. Theoretical and experimental methods used in such work are described in some detail, with special emphasis on density functional and spin density functional theories. Magnetic anisotropy in thin films is also discussed while addressing unresolved issues and new results from exchange-bias experiments.
* Discusses the GMR effect
* What makes multilayers interesting and useful?
* What are the latest discoveries in this field?
* Simple insights in to the physics behind multilayers
* Novel concepts at small length scales
* Theoretical and experimental background

The purpose of the book is to give a survey of the physics that is relevant for biological applications, and also to discuss what kind of biology needs physics. The book gives a broad account of basic physics, relevant for the applications and various applications from properties of proteins to processes in the cell to wider themes such as the brain, the origin of life and evolution. It also considers general questions of common interest such as reductionism, determinism and randomness, where the physics view often is misunderstood. The subtle balance between order and disorder is a repeated theme appearing in many contexts. There are descriptive parts which shall be sufficient for the comprehension of general ideas, and more detailed, formalistic parts for those who want to go deeper, and see the ideas expressed in terms of mathematical formulas.
- Describes how physics is needed for understanding basic principles of biology
- Discusses the delicate balance between order and disorder in living systems
- Explores how physics play a role high biological functions, such as learning and thinking

The origin of the word synchronization is a greek root, meaning "to share the common time." The original meaning of synchronization has been maintained up to now in the colloquial use of this word, as agreement or correlation in time of different processes. Historically, the analysis of synchronization phenomena in the evolution of dynamical systems has been a subject of active investigation since the earlier days of physics.
Recently, the search for synchronization has moved to chaotic systems. In this latter framework, the appearance of collective (synchronized) dynamics is, in general, not trivial. Indeed, a dynamical system is called chaotic whenever its evolution sensitively depends on the initial conditions. The above said implies that two trajectories emerging from two different closeby initial conditions separate exponentially in the course of the time. As a result, chaotic systems intrinsically defy synchronization, because even two identical systems starting from slightly different initial conditions would evolve in time in a unsynchronized manner (the differences in the systems' states would grow exponentially). This is a relevant practical problem, insofar as experimental initial conditions are never known perfectly. The setting of some collective (synchronized) behavior in coupled chaotic systems has therefore a great importance and interest.
The subject of the present book is to summarize the recent discoveries involving the study of synchronization in coupled chaotic systems.
Not always the word synchronization is taken as having the same colloquial meaning, and one needs to specify what synchrony means in all particular contexts in which we will describe its emergence.
The book describes the complete synchronization phenomenon, both for low and for high dimensional situations, and illustrates possible applications in the field of communicating with chaos.
Furthermore, the book summarizes the concepts of phase synchronization, lag synchronization, imperfect phase synchronization, and generalized synchronization, describing a general transition scenario between a hierarchy of different types of synchronization for chaotic oscillators.
These concepts are extended to the case of structurally different systems, of uncoupled systems subjected to a common external source, of space extended nonlinearly evolving fields, and of dynamical units networking via a complex wiring of connections, giving thus a summary of all possible situations that are encountered in real life and in technology.
.Technical, but not specialistic language
.About 100 illustrative Figures
.Full overview on synchronization phenomena
.Review of the main tools and techniques used in the field
.Paradigmatic examples and experiments illustrating the basic concepts
.Full Reference to the main publications existing in the literature on the subject"

This book is aimed at researchers who are working in a field of quasicrystals to provide a reference to recent developments and ideas in the field and also at graduate students, who intend to study quasicrystals, to provide introduction of ideas. Topics in this book cover an entire field of quasicrystals, both experimental and theoretical, including new developments: the state of the art in quasicrystallography, new families of quasicrystals, phasons in aperiodic solids, ab initio studies on stability mechanism, quantum transport phenomena, elastic/plastic properties and surface of quasicrystals.
. Comprehensive reviews by experts in the field
. Complete reference of original papers and new topics
. Intelligible introduction of quasicrystals by experts

In the fourty-six years that have gone by since the first volume of Progress in Optics was published, optics has become one of the most dynamic fields of science. The volumes in this series which have appeared up to now contain nearly 300 review articles by distinguished research workers, which have become permanent records for many important developments.
- Historial Overview
- Attosecond Laser Pulses
- History of Conical refraction
- Particle Concept of Light
- Field Quantization in Optics
- History of Near-Field Optics
- History of Tunneling
- Influence of Young's Interference Experiment ob Development of Statistical optics
- Planck, Photon Statistics and Bose-Einstein Condensation

The book on Heavy-Fermion Systems is a part of the Book series "Handbook of Metal Physics," each volume of which is written to facilitate the research of Ph.D. students, faculty and other researchers in a specific area. The Heavy-Fermions (sometimes known as Heavy-Electrons) is a loosely defined collection of intermetallic compounds containing rare-earth (mostly Ce) or actinide (mostly U) elements. These unusual names were given due to the large effective mass (100-1,000 times greater than the mass of a free electron) below a critical temperature. They have a variety of ground states including superconducting, antiferromagnetic, paramagnetic or semiconducting. Some display unusual magnetic properties such as magnetic quantum critical point and metamagnetism. This book is essentially a summary as well as a critical review of the theoretical and experimental work done on Heavy Fermions.
- Extensive research references.
- Comprehensive review of a very rapidly growing number of theories.
- Summary of all important experiments.
- Comparison with other highly correlated systems such as High-Tc Superconductors.
- Possible Technological applications.

This book is a collection of lectures given in August 2006 at the Les Houches Summer School on Particle Physics and Cosmology: the Fabric of Spacetime . It provides a pedagogical introduction to the various aspects of both particle physics beyond the Standard Model and Cosmology of the Early Universe, covering each topic from the basics to the most recent developments.
. Provides a pedagogical introduction to topics at the interface of particle physics and cosmology
. Addresses each topic from the basis to the most recent developments
. Provides necessary tools to build new theoretical models addressing various issues both in cosmology and particle physics
. Covers the lectures by internationally-renowned and leading experts
. Faces the predictions of theoretical models against collider experimental data as well as from cosmological observations

The main purpose of developing stability theory is to examine dynamic responses of a system to disturbances as the time approaches infinity. It has been and still is the object of intense investigations due to its intrinsic interest and its relevance to all practical systems in engineering, finance, natural science and social science. This monograph provides some state-of-the-art expositions of major advances in fundamental stability theories and methods for dynamic systems of ODE and DDE types and in limit cycle, normal form and Hopf bifurcation control of nonlinear dynamic systems.
. Presents comprehensive theory and methodology of stability analysis
. Can be used as textbook for graduate students in applied mathematics, mechanics, control theory, theoretical physics, mathematical biology, information theory, scientific computation
. Serves as a comprehensive handbook of stability theory for practicing aerospace, control, mechanical, structural, naval and civil engineers

This is the fourth volume in a series of survey articles covering many aspects of mathematical fluid dynamics, a vital source of open mathematical problems and exciting physics.

This book discussed fundamental problems in dynamics, which extensively exist in engineering, natural and social sciences. The book presented a basic theory for the interactions among many dynamical systems and for a system whose motions are constrained naturally or artificially. The methodology and techniques presented in this book are applicable to discontinuous dynamical systems in physics, engineering and control. In addition, they may provide useful tools to solve non-traditional dynamics in biology, stock market and internet network et al, which cannot be easily solved by the traditional Newton mechanics. The new ideas and concepts will stimulate ones' thought and creativities in corresponding subjects. The author also used the simple, mathematical language to write this book. Therefore, this book is very readable, which can be either a textbook for senior undergraduate and graduate students or a reference book for researches in dynamics.
- Challenging continuous Newton's dynamics
- Original theory and seeds of new researches in the field
- Wide spectrum of applications in science and engineering
- Systematic presentation and clear illustrations

The Standard Model of elementary particles and interactions is one of the best tested theories in physics. It has been found to be in remarkable agreement with experiment, and its validity at the quantum level has been successfully probed in the electroweak sector. In spite of its experimental successes, though, the Standard Model suffers from a number of limitations, and is likely to be an incomplete theory. It contains many arbitrary parameters; it does not include gravity, the fourth elementary interaction; it does not provide an explanation for the hierarchy between the scale of electroweak interactions and the Planck scale, characteristic of gravitational interactions; and finally, it fails to account for the dark matter and the baryon asymmetry of the universe. This led particle theorists to develop and study various extensions of the Standard Model, such as supersymmetric theories, Grand Unified Theories or theories with extra space-time dimensions - most of which have been proposed well before the experimental verification of the Standard Model. The coming generation of experimental facilities (such as high-energy colliders, B-physics experiments, neutrino superbeams, as well as astrophysical and cosmological observational facilities) will allow us to test the predictions of these theories and to deepen our understanding of the fundamental laws of nature.

This book is a collection of lectures given in August 2005 at the Les Houches Summer School on Particle Physics beyond the Standard Model. It provides a pedagogical introduction to the various aspects of particle physics beyond the Standard Model, covering each topic from the basics to the most recent developments: supersymmetric theories, Grand Unified Theories, theories with extra dimensions, flavour physics and CP violation, neutrino physics, astroparticle physics and cosmology.
-Provides a pedagogical introduction to particle physics beyond the Standard Model
-Covers the various aspects of particle physics beyond the Standard Model
-Addresses each topic from the basics to the most recent developments
-Addresses both the theoretical and phenomenological aspects of the subject
-Written in a pedagogical style by leading experts in the field

This volume is the first of a series on Physical Techniques in the Study of Art, Archaeology and Cultural Heritage. It follows a successful earlier publication by Elsevier (Radiation in Art and Archaeometry).
There has been an upsurge of interest world wide in cultural heritage issues, and in particular, large organizations such as UNESCO and the European Union are active in providing funding for a very diverse range of projects in cultural heritage preservation. It is perceived that it is essential to preserve the cultural heritage of societies, both to benefit the future generations of those societies, and to inform other cultures.
A growing need exists for the education of conservators and restorers because it is these professionals who will make decisions on how best to preserve our cultural heritage. This book series therefore has as its primary aim, the dissemination of technical information on scientific conservation to scientific conservators, museum curators, conservation science students, and other interested people.
Scientific conservation, as a discipline, is a comparatively modern concept. Interested scientists have for many years addressed scientific problems associated with cultural heritage artefacts. But their involvement has been sporadic and driven by the needs of individual museums, rather than a personal lifetime study of issues of conservation of for example, buildings, large functional objects, paintings, and so on.
In this book series contributors will come from both interested scientists and the museum-based scientists. The authors have been selected with an eye to involving young, and well as established, scientists.
Dr Jean Louis Boutaine, was Head of the Research Department of the Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musees de France at the Louvre. Dr Boutaine has had a most distinguished career within the conservation science community. He writes here on the concept of the Modern Museum.
Professor Casali is responsible for the teaching of Archaeometry at the University of Bologna. He has developed advanced equipment for both micro-Computer Tomography and for large-object Computer Tomography. His chapter deals with X-ray, neutron, and digital radiography as applied to the study of objects of cultural heritage significance.
Professor Tim Wess holds the Chair of Biomaterials in the Biophysics Division in the School of Optometry and Vision Science at Cardiff University. The systems in which he is interested contain collagen, fibrillin, and cellulose (which relate, in the cultural heritage discipline, to an interest in parchment and papers). A parallel interest is in the structure of bone and artificial composite materials (which relates to his interest in historical studies of bone materials). Chapter 3 will describe the techniques used to study alteration to structure of minerals in the bone. Preservation of intact bone mineral crystallites has been shown to relate to the endurance of amplifiable ancient DNA from archaeological and fossil bone. In collaboration with Drs K. Nielsen and Rene Larsen (School of Conservation, Copenhagen, Denmark) Tim Wess has analyzed the deterioration of historic parchments and also simulated ageing processes.
Chapter 5 has been written by Dr Andrew Hardy who began studying Middle Eastern eye cosmetics (kohls) in the early 1990's whilst working in Oman. He has continued thiswork at the Centre for Medical History, School of Historical, Political and Sociological Studies, Exeter University. The chapter summarizes and reviews the usage and composition of kohls in ancient (Pharaonic) Egypt. It also gives information, from later time periods, on kohl usage and its recipes, which have been studied using a wide range of experimental techniques.
- Written in a style that is readily understandable by conservation scientists, archaeologists, museum curators, and students
- Provides an introduction to the advanced fields of synchrotron radiation science, neutron science, and computed tomography
- Outstanding review of the use of modern technology to study museum and archaeological artifacts
- Offers solutions through advanced scientific techniques to a wide range of problems facing museum staff

This book deals with density, temperature, velocity and concentration fluctuations in fluids and fluid mixtures. The book first reviews thermal fluctuations in equilibrium fluids on the basis of fluctuating hydrodynamics. It then shows how the method of fluctuating hydrodynamics can be extended to deal with hydrodynamic fluctuations when the system is in a stationary nonequilibrium state. In contrast to equilibrium fluids where the fluctuations are generally short ranged unless the system is close to a critical point, fluctuations in nonequilibrium fluids are always long-ranged encompassing the entire system. The book provides the first comprehensive treatment of fluctuations in fluids and fluid mixtures brought out of equilibrium by the imposition of a temperature and concentration gradient but that are still in a macroscopically quiescent state. By incorporating appropriate boundary conditions in the case of fluid layers, it is shown how fluctuating hydrodynamics affects the fluctuations close to the onset of convection. Experimental techniques of light scattering and shadowgraphy for measuring nonequilibrium fluctuations are elucidated and the experimental results thus far reported in the literature are reviewed.
- Systematic exposition of fluctuating hydrodynamics and its applications
- First book on nonequilibrium fluctuations in fluids
- Fluctuating Boussinesq equations and nonequilibrium fluids
- Fluid layers and onset of convection
- Rayleigh scattering and Brillouin scattering in fluids
- Shadowgraph technique for measuring fluctuations
- Fluctuations near hydrodynamic instabilities

Fluctuating parameters appear in a variety of physical systems and phenomena. They typically come either as random forces/sources, or advecting velocities, or media (material) parameters, like refraction index, conductivity, diffusivity, etc. The well known example of Brownian particle suspended in fluid and subjected to random molecular bombardment laid the foundation for modern stochastic calculus and statistical physics. Other important examples include turbulent transport and diffusion of particle-tracers (pollutants), or continuous densities (''oil slicks''), wave propagation and scattering in randomly inhomogeneous media, for instance light or sound propagating in the turbulent atmosphere.
Such models naturally render to statistical description, where the input parameters and solutions are expressed by random processes and fields.
The fundamental problem of stochastic dynamics is to identify the essential characteristics of system (its state and evolution), and relate those to the input parameters of the system and initial data.
This raises a host of challenging mathematical issues. One could rarely solve such systems exactly (or approximately) in a closed analytic form, and their solutions depend in a complicated implicit manner on the initial-boundary data, forcing and system's (media) parameters . In mathematical terms such solution becomes a complicated "nonlinear functional" of random fields and processes.
Part I gives mathematical formulation for the basic physical models of transport, diffusion, propagation and develops some analytic tools.
Part II sets up and applies the techniques of variational calculus and stochastic analysis, like Fokker-Plank equation to those models, to produce exact or approximate solutions, or in worst case numeric procedures. The exposition is motivated and demonstrated with numerous examples.
Part III takes up issues for the coherent phenomena in stochastic dynamical systems, described by ordinary and partial differential equations, like wave propagation in randomly layered media (localization), turbulent advection of passive tracers (clustering).
Each chapter is appended with problems the reader to solve by himself (herself), which will be a good training for independent investigations.
.This book is translation from Russian and is completed with new principal results of recent research.
.The book develops mathematical tools of stochastic analysis, and applies them to a wide range of physical models of particles, fluids, and waves.
.Accessible to a broad audience with general background in mathematical physics, but no special expertise in stochastic analysis, wave propagation or turbulence"

This book deals with the impact of uncertainty in input data on the outputs of mathematical models. Uncertain inputs as scalars, tensors, functions, or domain boundaries are considered. In practical terms, material parameters or constitutive laws, for instance, are uncertain, and quantities as local temperature, local mechanical stress, or local displacement are monitored. The goal of the worst scenario method is to extremize the quantity over the set of uncertain input data.
A general mathematical scheme of the worst scenario method, including approximation by finite element methods, is presented, and then applied to various state problems modeled by differential equations or variational inequalities: nonlinear heat flow, Timoshenko beam vibration and buckling, plate buckling, contact problems in elasticity and thermoelasticity with and without friction, and various models of plastic deformation, to list some of the topics. Dozens of examples, figures, and tables are included.
Although the book concentrates on the mathematical aspects of the subject, a substantial part is written in an accessible style and is devoted to various facets of uncertainty in modeling and to the state of the art techniques proposed to deal with uncertain input data.
A chapter on sensitivity analysis and on functional and convex analysis is included for the reader's convenience.
-Rigorous theory is established for the treatment of uncertainty in modeling
- Uncertainty is considered in complex models based on partial differential equations or variational inequalities
- Applications to nonlinear and linear problems with uncertain data are presented in detail: quasilinear steady heat flow, buckling of beams and plates, vibration of beams, frictional contact of bodies, several models of plastic deformation, and more
-Although emphasis is put on theoretical analysis and approximation techniques, numerical examples are also present
-Main ideas and approaches used today to handle uncertainties in modeling are described in an accessible form
-Fairly self-contained book

Deep connections are emerging in the physics of non-thermal systems, such as granular media, and other "complex systems" such as glass formers, spin glasses, colloids or gels. This book discusses the unifying physical theories, developed in recent years, for the description of these systems. The special focus of the book is on recent important developments in the formulation of a Statistical Mechanics approach to granular media and the description of out-of-equilibrium dynamics, such as "jamming" phenomena, ubiquitous in these "complex systems." The book collects contributions from leading researchers in these fields, providing both an introduction, at a graduate level, to these rapidly developing subjects and featuring an up to date, self contained, presentation of theoretical and experimental developments for researchers in areas ranging from Chemistry, to Engineering and Physical Sciences.
-the book discusses very hot topics in physical sciences
-it includes contributions from the most prominent researchers in the area
-it is clearly written and self contained

Optics has become one of the most dynamic fields of science since the first volume of Progress in Optics was published, forty years ago. At the time of inception of this series, the first lasers were only just becoming operational, holography was in its infancy, subjects such as fiber optics, integrated optics and optoelectronics did not exist and quantum optics was the domain of only a few physicists. The term photonics had not yet been coined. Today these fields are flourishing and have become areas of specialisation for many science and engineering students and numerous research workers and engineers throughout the world. Some of the advances in these fields have been recognized by awarding Nobel prizes to seven physicists in the last twenty years. The volumes in this series which have appeared up to now contain 240 review articles by distinguished research workers, which have become permanent records for many important developments. They have helped optical scientists and optical engineers to stay abreast of their fields. There is no sign that developments in optics are slowing down or becoming less interesting. We confidently expect that, just like their predecessors, future volumes of Progress in Optics will faithfully record the most important advances that are being made in optics and related fields.

This volume emphasises studies related to
classical Stefan problems. The term "Stefan problem" is
generally used for heat transfer problems with
phase-changes such
as from the liquid to the solid. Stefan problems have some
characteristics that are typical of them, but certain problems
arising in fields such as mathematical physics and engineering
also exhibit characteristics similar to them. The term
classical" distinguishes the formulation of these problems from
their weak formulation, in which the solution need not possess
classical derivatives. Under suitable assumptions, a weak solution
could be as good as a classical solution. In hyperbolic Stefan
problems, the characteristic features of Stefan problems are
present but unlike in Stefan problems, discontinuous solutions are
allowed because of the hyperbolic nature of the heat equation. The
numerical solutions of inverse Stefan problems, and the analysis of
direct Stefan problems are so integrated that it is difficult to
discuss one without referring to the other. So no strict line of
demarcation can be identified between a classical Stefan problem
and other similar problems. On the other hand, including every
related problem in the domain of classical Stefan problem would
require several volumes for their description. A suitable
compromise has to be made.
The basic concepts, modelling, and analysis of the classical
Stefan problems have been extensively investigated and there seems
to be a need to report the results at one place. This book
attempts to answer that need. Within the framework of the
classical Stefan problem with the emphasis on the basic concepts,
modelling and analysis, it tries to include some weak
solutions and analytical and numerical solutions also. The main
considerations behind this are the continuity and the clarity of
exposition. For example, the description of some phase-field
models in Chapter 4 arose out of this need for a smooth transition
between topics. In the mathematical formulation of Stefan
problems, the curvature effects and the kinetic condition are
incorporated with the help of the modified Gibbs-Thomson relation.
On the basis of some thermodynamical and metallurgical
considerations, the modified Gibbs-Thomson relation can be
derived, as has been done in the text, but the rigorous
mathematical justification comes from the fact that this relation
can be obtained by taking appropriate limits of phase-field
models. Because of the unacceptability of some phase-field models
due their so-called thermodynamical inconsistency, some consistent
models have also been described. This completes the discussion of
phase-field models in the present context.
Making this volume self-contained would require reporting and
deriving several results from tensor analysis, differential
geometry, non-equilibrium thermodynamics, physics and functional
analysis. The text is enriched with appropriate
references so as not to enlarge the scope of the book. The proofs
of propositions and theorems are often lengthy and different from
one another. Presenting them in a condensed way may not be of much
help to the reader. Therefore only the main features of proofs
and a few results have been presented to suggest the essential
flavour of the theme of investigation. However at each place,
appropriate references have been cited so that inquisitive
readers can follow them on their own.
Each chapter begins with basic concepts, objectives and the
directions in which the subject matter has grown. This is followed
by reviews - in some cases quite detailed - of published works. In a
work of this type, the author has to make a suitable compromise
between length restrictions and understandability.

Intelligent systems are required to enhance the capacities being made available to us by the internet and other computer based technologies. The theory necessary to help providing solutions to difficult problems in the construction of intelligent systems are discussed. In particular, attention is paid to situations in which the available information and data may be imprecise, uncertain, incomplete or of a linguistic nature. Various methodologies to manage such information are discussed. Among these are the probabilistic, possibilistic, fuzzy, logical, evidential and network-based frameworks.

One purpose of the book is not to consider these methodologies separately, but rather to consider how they can be used cooperatively to better represent the multiplicity of modes of information. Topics in the book include representation of imperfect knowledge, fundamental issues in uncertainty, reasoning, information retrieval, learning and mining, as well as various applications.

Key Features:

Tools for construction of intelligent systems
Contributions by world leading experts
Fundamental issues and applications
New technologies for web searching
Methods for modeling uncertain information
Future directions in web technologies
Transversal to methods and domains

"

In order to select an optimal structure among possible similar structures, one needs to compare the elastic behavior of the structures. A new criterion that describes elastic behavior is the rate of change of deformation. Using this criterion, the safe dimensions of a structure that are required by the stress distributed in a structure can be calculated. The new non-linear theory of elasticity allows one to determine the actual individual limit of elasticity/failure of a structure using a simple non-destructive method of measurement of deformation on the model of a structure while presently it can be done only with a destructive test for each structure. For building and explaining the theory, a new logical structure was introduced as the basis of the theory. One of the important physical implications of this logic is that it describes mathematically the universal domain of the possible stable physical relations.

Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) has become the technique of choice for many areas of radiation dosimetry. The technique is finding widespread application in a variety of radiation dosimetry fields, including personal monitoring, environmental monitoring, retrospective dosimetry (including geological dating and accident dosimetry), space dosimetry, and many more. In this book we have attempted to synthesize the major advances in the field, covering both fundamental understanding and the many applications. The latter serve to demonstrate the success and popularity of OSL as a dosimetry method.

The book is designed for researchers and radiation dosimetry practitioners alike. It delves into the detailed theory of the process from the point of view of stimulated relaxation phenomena, describing the energy storage and release processes phenomenologically and developing detailed mathematical descriptions to enable a quantitative understanding of the observed phenomena. The various stimulation modes (continuous wave, pulsed, or linear modulation) are introduced and compared. The properties of the most important synthetic OSL materials beginning with the dominant carbon-doped Al2O3, and moving through discussions of other, less-well studied but nevertheless important, or potentially important, materials. The OSL properties of the two most important natural OSL dosimetry material types, namely quartz and feldspars are discussed in depth. The applications chapters deal with the use of OSL in personal, environmental, medical and UV dosimetry, geological dating and retrospective dosimetry (accident dosimetry and dating). Finally the developments in instrumentation that have occurred over the past decade or more are described.

The book will find use in those laboratories within academia, national institutes and the private sector where research and applications in radiation dosimetry using luminescence are being conducted. Potential readers include personnel involved in radiation protection practice and research, hospitals, nuclear power stations, radiation clean-up and remediation, food irradiation and materials processing, security monitoring, geological and archaeological dating, luminescence studies of minerals, etc.

Optics has become one of the most dynamic fields of science since the first volume of Progress in Optics was published forty years ago. At the time of inception of this series, the first lasers were only just becoming operational, holography was in its infancy, subjects such as fiber optics, integrated optics and optoelectronics did not exist and quantum optics was the domain of only a few physicists. The term photonics had not yet been coined. Today these fields are flourishing and have become areas of specialization for many science and engineering students as well as numerous research workers and engineers throughout the world.

The awarding of Nobel prizes to seven physicists over the last twenty years has recognized advances in these fields. The volumes in this series now contain 240 review articles by distinguished research workers, which have become permanent records for many important developments. They have helped optical scientists and optical engineers to stay abreast of their fields. There is no sign that developments in optics are slowing down or becoming less interesting. We confidently expect that, just like their predecessors, future volumes of Progress in Optics will faithfully record the most important advances that are being made in optics and related fields.

The articles in this volume 43 cover a broad range of subjects, of interest to scientists concerned with optical theory or with optical devices.

Hardbound. It is a pleasure to record that Progress in Optics is commencing the fifth decade of its existence. The first volume was published in 1961, only a few months after the invention of the laser. This event triggered a wealth of new and exciting developments, many of which were reported in the 240 review articles which were published in this series since its inception. The present volume contains seven articles covering a wide range of subjects. The first article, by M.H. Fields, J. Popp, and R.K. Chang, presents a review of various optical effects in spherical and circular micro-cavities capable of supporting high-Q resonant modes (commonly referred to as morphology-dependent resonances (MDRs) or whispering gallery modes (WGMs)). The article treats the theory of symmetrical and deformed micro-cavities and describes recent research and development in the areas of quantum electrodynamics, lasers, optical spectroscopy, and filters for