This book presents extensive information on the mechanisms of epitaxial growth in III-nitride compounds, drawing on a state-of-the-art computational approach that combines ab initio calculations, empirical interatomic potentials, and Monte Carlo simulations to do so. It discusses important theoretical aspects of surface structures and elemental growth processes during the epitaxial growth of III-nitride compounds. In addition, it discusses advanced fundamental structural and electronic properties, surface structures, fundamental growth processes and novel behavior of thin films in III-nitride semiconductors. As such, it will appeal to all researchers, engineers and graduate students seeking detailed information on crystal growth and its application to III-nitride compounds.

This book offers a comprehensive introduction to polymer rheology with a focus on the viscoelastic characterization of polymeric materials. It contains various numerical algorithms for the processing of viscoelastic data, from basic principles to advanced examples which are hard to find in the existing literature. The book takes a multidisciplinary approach to the study of the viscoelasticity of polymers, and is self-contained, including the essential mathematics, continuum mechanics, polymer science and statistical mechanics needed to understand the theories of polymer viscoelasticity. It covers recent achievements in polymer rheology, such as theoretical and experimental aspects of large amplitude oscillatory shear (LAOS), and numerical methods for linear viscoelasticity, as well as new insights into the interpretation of experimental data. Although the book is balanced between the theoretical and experimental aspects of polymer rheology, the author's particular interest in the theoretical side will not remain hidden. Aimed at readers familiar with the mathematics and physics of engineering at an undergraduate level, the multidisciplinary approach employed enables researchers with various scientific backgrounds to expand their knowledge of polymer rheology in a systematic way.

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 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.Review articles for the individual volumes are invited by the volume editors. Single contributions can be specially commissioned.Readership: Polymer scientists, or& nbsp;scientists in related fields interested in polymer and biopolymer science, at universities or in industry, graduate students.

This thesis focuses on the design and synthesis of novel one-dimensional colloidal chalcogenide hetero-nanostructures for enhancing solar energy conversion applications. Semiconducting nanomaterials are particular attractive for energy conversion due to the quantum confinement effects dictating their unique optical and electronic properties. Steering the photo-induced charge-flow based on unique bandgap alignment in semiconductor heterojunctions is critical for photo-electric/chemical conversion. The author presents the controllable preparation strategies to synthesize 1D chalcogenide hetero-nanostructures with various fine structures, further been used as excellent template materials for preparing other novel and complex hybrid architectures through a series of chemical transformations. The heterogeneous growth mechanisms of novel hetero-nanostructures is studied for developing a facile and general method to prepare more novel heterostructures. The band gap structure simulations, detailed charge carrier behaviour and unique solar energy conversion properties of the prepared hybrid nanostructures are deeply investigated. This work would open a new door to rationally designing hybrid systems for photo-induced applications.

This book summarizes the most recent and compelling experimental results for complex oxide interfaces. The results of this book were obtained with the cutting-edge photoemission technique at highest energy resolution. Due to their fascinating properties for new-generation electronic devices and the challenge of investigating buried regions, the book chiefly focuses on complex oxide interfaces. The crucial feature of exploring buried interfaces is the use of soft X-ray angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) operating on the energy range of a few hundred eV to increase the photoelectron mean free path, enabling the photons to penetrate through the top layers - in contrast to conventional ultraviolet (UV)-ARPES techniques. The results presented here, achieved by different research groups around the world, are summarized in a clearly structured way and discussed in comparison with other photoemission spectroscopy techniques and other oxide materials. They are complemented and supported by the most recent theoretical calculations as well as results of complementary experimental techniques including electron transport and inelastic resonant X-ray scattering.

This book reviews the current state-of-the art of single layer silicene up to thicker silicon nanosheets, and their structure, properties and potential applications. Silicene is a newly discovered material that is one atomic layer think. It is a two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterial that is classified as a nanosheet, which has large lateral dimensions up to micrometres, but thicknesses of only nanometres or less. Silicon nanosheets are currently a very 'hot' area of research. The unique properties and morphology of such materials make them ideal for a variety of applications, including electronic devices, batteries and sensors. 2D nanosheets of silicon can be considered as analogues of graphene. As silicon is already the major component of electronic devices, the significance of nanosheets composed of silicon is that they can be more easily integrated into existing electronic devices. Furthermore, if 2D nanostructured Si can be implemented into such devices, then their size could be reduced into the nano-regime, providing unique properties different from bulk Si that is currently employed. The book is written for researchers and graduate students.

This book presents an efficient and robust method of modelling the magnetostatic properties of different technical elements, especially thin layers for magnetic sensors. The solutions presented utilise the principles of the method of moments. However, the principles have been developed both from the point of view of physical analyses as well as from the point of view of numerical optimisation. To enable cost-efficient use of the solutions for commercial applications in industry, the proposed method was implemented as a code optimised for use in the open-source OCTAVE environment. The scripts can be also used with MATLAB software, which is more user friendly, especially for less experienced users.

In this book, the author describes the development of the experimental diffraction setup and structural analysis of non-crystalline particles from material science and biology. Recent advances in X-ray free electron laser (XFEL)-coherent X-ray diffraction imaging (CXDI) experiments allow for the structural analysis of non-crystalline particles to a resolution of 7 nm, and to a resolution of 20 nm for biological materials. Now XFEL-CXDI marks the dawn of a new era in structural analys of non-crystalline particles with dimensions larger than 100 nm, which was quite impossible in the 20th century. To conduct CXDI experiments in both synchrotron and XFEL facilities, the author has developed apparatuses, named KOTOBUKI-1 and TAKASAGO-6 for cryogenic diffraction experiments on frozen-hydrated non-crystalline particles at around 66 K. At the synchrotron facility, cryogenic diffraction experiments dramatically reduce radiation damage of specimen particles and allow tomography CXDI experiments. In addition, in XFEL experiments, non-crystalline particles scattered on thin support membranes and flash-cooled can be used to efficiently increase the rate of XFEL pulses. The rate, which depends on the number density of scattered particles and the size of X-ray beams, is currently 20-90%, probably the world record in XFEL-CXDI experiments. The experiment setups and results are introduced in this book. The author has also developed software suitable for efficiently processing of diffraction patterns and retrieving electron density maps of specimen particles based on the diffraction theory used in CXDI.

This book presents the "helical wormlike chain" model - a general model for both flexible and semiflexible polymer chains. It explains how statistical-mechanical, hydrodynamic, and dynamic theories of their solution properties can be developed on the basis of this model. This new second edition has been carefully updated and thoroughly revised. It includes a new chapter covering "Simulation and More on Excluded-Volume Effects", as well as the discussion of new experimental data and the application of the theory to ring polymers. The authors provide analysis of important recent experimental data by the use of their theories for flexible polymers over a wide range of molecular weights, including the oligomer region, and for semiflexible polymers, including biological macromolecules such as DNA. This is all clearly illustrated using a reasonable number of theoretical equations, tables, figures, and computer-aided forms, which support the understanding of the basic theory and help to facilitate its application to experimental data for the polymer molecular characterization.

This book presents a comprehensive and unifying approach to analytical identification of material properties of biological materials. Focusing on depth-sensing indentation testing, pipette aspiration testing, and torsion of soft tissues, it discusses the following important aspects in detail: damping, adhesion, thickness effect, substrate effect, elastic inhomogeneity effect, and biphasic effect. This book is intended for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, researchers in the area of biomechanics as well as for biomedical engineers interested in contact problems and involved in inverse materials parameters prediction analysis.

In addition to structure formation in crystallizing polymers and semicrystalline polymers, this second edition completes the topic of transport phenomena. It also reviews solidification by crystallization during cooling and under flow or pressure, which all play an enormous role in polymer melt processing. Generally, there is an intensive interaction between three transport phenomena: heat transfer, momentum transfer (flow, rheology) and (flow induced) crystallization. The strong interaction between the three transport phenomena is a major challenge when it comes to experimentation, and advances in this area are detailed in the book, guiding further development of sound modeling. This book enables readers to follow an advanced course in polymer processing. It is a valuable resource for polymer chemists, applied physicists, rheologists, plastics engineers, mold makers and material scientists.

This pioneering book presents new models for the thermomechanical behavior of composite materials and structures taking into account internal physico-chemical transformations such as thermodecomposition, sublimation and melting at high temperatures (up to 3000 K). It is of great importance for the design of new thermostable materials and for the investigation of reliability and fire safety of composite structures. It also supports the investigation of interaction of composites with laser irradiation and the design of heat-shield systems. Structural methods are presented for calculating the effective mechanical and thermal properties of matrices, fibres and unidirectional, reinforced by dispersed particles and textile composites, in terms of properties of their constituent phases. Useful calculation methods are developed for characteristics such as the rate of thermomechanical erosion of composites under high-speed flow and the heat deformation of composites with account of chemical shrinkage. The author expansively compares modeling results with experimental data, and readers will find unique experimental results on mechanical and thermal properties of composites under temperatures up to 3000 K. Chapters show how the behavior of composite shells under high temperatures is simulated by the finite-element method and so cylindrical and axisymmetric composite shells and composite plates are investigated under local high-temperature heating. < The book will be of interest to researchers and to engineers designing composite structures, and invaluable to materials scientists developing advanced performance thermostable materials.

This edited book, based on material presented at the EU Spec Training School on Multiple Scattering Codes and the following MSNano Conference, is divided into two distinct parts. The first part, subtitled "basic knowledge", provides the basics of the multiple scattering description in spectroscopies, enabling readers to understand the physics behind the various multiple scattering codes available for modelling spectroscopies. The second part, "extended knowledge", presents "state- of-the-art" short chapters on specific subjects associated with improving of the actual description of spectroscopies within the multiple scattering formalism, such as inelastic processes, or precise examples of modelling.

This textbook extends from the basics of femtosecond physics all the way to some of the latest developments in the field. In this updated edition, the chapter on laser-driven atoms is augmented by the discussion of two-electron atoms interacting with strong and short laser pulses, as well as by a review of ATI rings and low energy structures in photo-electron spectra. In the chapter on laser-driven molecules a discussion of 2D infrared spectroscopy is incorporated. Theoretical investigations of atoms and molecules interacting with pulsed lasers up to atomic field strengths on the order of 10^16 W/cm(2) are leading to an understanding of many challenging experimental discoveries. The presentation starts with a brief introduction to pulsed laser physics. The basis for the non-perturbative treatment of laser-matter interaction in the book is the time-dependent Schroedinger equation. Its analytical as well as numerical solution are laid out in some detail. The light field is treated classically and different possible gauges for the field-matter interaction are discussed. Physical phenomena, ranging from paradigmatic Rabi-oscillations in two-level systems to the ionization of atoms, the generation of high-order harmonics, the ionization and dissociation of molecules, as well as the control of chemical reactions are presented and discussed on a fundamental level. In this way, the theoretical background for state of the art experiments with strong and short laser pulses is given. The new text is augmented by several additional exercises and now contains a total of forty-eight problems, whose worked-out solutions are given in the last chapter. In addition, some detailed calculations are performed in the appendices. Furthermore, each chapter ends with references to more specialized literature.

This book provides the first complete and up-to-date summary of the state of the art in HAXPES and motivates readers to harness its powerful capabilities in their own research. The chapters are written by experts. They include historical work, modern instrumentation, theory and applications. This book spans from physics to chemistry and materials science and engineering. In consideration of the rapid development of the technique, several chapters include highlights illustrating future opportunities as well.

With its many beautiful colour pictures, this book gives fascinating insights into the unusual forms and behaviour of matter under extremely high pressures and temperatures. These extreme states are generated, among other things, by strong shock, detonation and electric explosion waves, dense laser beams, electron and ion beams, hypersonic entry of spacecraft into dense atmospheres of planets and in many other situations characterized by extremely high pressures and temperatures. Written by one of the world's foremost experts on the topic, this book will inform and fascinate all scientists dealing with materials properties and physics and also serve as an excellent introduction to plasma-, shock-wave and high-energy-density physics for students and newcomers seeking an overview. This second edition is thoroughly revised and expanded, in particular with new material on high energy-density physics, nuclear explosions and other nuclear transformation processes.

In this thesis Johanna Bruckner reports the discovery of the lyotropic counterpart of the thermotropic SmC* phase, which has become famous as the only spontaneously polarized, ferroelectric fluid in nature. By means of polarizing optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction and electro-optic experiments she firmly establishes aspects of the structure of the novel lyotropic liquid crystalline phase and elucidates its fascinating properties, among them a pronounced polar electro-optic effect, analogous to the ferroelectric switching of its thermotropic counterpart. The helical ground state of the mesophase raises the fundamental question of how chiral interactions are "communicated" across layers of more or less disordered and achiral solvent molecules which are located between adjacent bi-layers of the chiral amphiphile molecules. This thesis bridges an important gap between thermotropic and lyotropic liquid crystals and pioneers a new field of liquid crystal research.

This book presents generalized heat-conduction laws which, from a mesoscopic perspective, are relevant to new applications (especially in nanoscale heat transfer, nanoscale thermoelectric phenomena, and in diffusive-to-ballistic regime) and at the same time keep up with the pace of current microscopic research. The equations presented in the book are compatible with generalized formulations of nonequilibrium thermodynamics, going beyond the local-equilibrium. The book includes six main chapters, together with a preface and a final section devoted to the future perspectives, as well as an extensive bibliography.

A comprehensive device model considering both spatial distributions of the terahertz field and the field-effect self-mixing factor has been constructed for the first time in the thesis. The author has found that it is the strongly localized terahertz field induced in a small fraction of the gated electron channel that plays an important role in the high responsivity. An AlGaN/GaN-based high-electron-mobility transistor with a 2-micron-sized gate and integrated dipole antennas has been developed and can offer a noise-equivalent power as low as 40 pW/Hz1/2 at 900 GHz. By further reducing the gate length down to 0.2 micron, a noise-equivalent power of 6 pW/Hz1/2 has been achieved. This thesis provides detailed experimental techniques and device simulation for revealing the self-mixing mechanism including a scanning probe technique for evaluating the effectiveness of terahertz antennas. As such, the thesis could be served as a valuable introduction towards further development of high-sensitivity field-effect terahertz detectors for practical applications.

This book provides a detailed review of power amplifiers, including classes and topologies rarely covered in books, and supplies sufficient information to allow the reader to design an entire amplifier system, and not just the power amplification stage. A central aim is to furnish readers with ideas on how to simplify the design process for a preferred power amplifier stage by introducing software-based routines in a programming language of their choice. The book is in two parts, the first focusing on power amplifier theory and the second on EDA concepts. Readers will gain enough knowledge of RF and microwave transmission theory, principles of active and passive device design and manufacturing, and power amplifier design concepts to allow them to quickly create their own programs, which will help to accelerate the transceiver design process. All circuit designers facing the challenge of designing an RF or microwave power amplifier for frequencies from 2 to 18 GHz will find this book to be a valuable asset.

This book deals with the reflection of electromagnetic and particle waves by interfaces. The interfaces can be sharp or diffuse. The topics of the book contain absorption, inverse problems, anisotropy, pulses and finite beams, rough surfaces, matrix methods, numerical methods, reflection of particle waves and neutron reflection. Exact general results are presented, followed by long wave reflection, variational theory, reflection amplitude equations of the Riccati type, and reflection of short waves. The Second Edition of the Theory of Reflection is an updated and much enlarged revision of the 1987 monograph. There are new chapters on periodically stratified media, ellipsometry, chiral media, neutron reflection and reflection of acoustic waves. The chapter on anisotropy is much extended, with a complete treatment of the reflection and transmission properties of arbitrarily oriented uniaxial crystals. The book gives a systematic and unified treatment reflection and transmission of electromagnetic and particle waves at interfaces. It is intended for physicists, chemists, applied mathematicians and engineers, and is written in a simple direct style, with all necessary mathematics explained in the text.

This thesis provides the first successful study of jump diffusion processes in glasses on the atomic scale, utilizing a novel coherent technique. This new method, called atomic-scale X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy or aXPCS, has only recently been proven to be able to capture diffusion processes with atomic resolution in crystal systems. With this new toolkit for studying atomic diffusion in amorphous systems, new insight into basic processes in a wide range of technically relevant materials, like fast ionic conductors, can be obtained.

This monograph offers an overview of rigorous results on fermionic topological insulators from the complex classes, namely, those without symmetries or with just a chiral symmetry. Particular focus is on the stability of the topological invariants in the presence of strong disorder, on the interplay between the bulk and boundary invariants and on their dependence on magnetic fields. The first part presents motivating examples and the conjectures put forward by the physics community, together with a brief review of the experimental achievements. The second part develops an operator algebraic approach for the study of disordered topological insulators. This leads naturally to the use of analytical tools from K-theory and non-commutative geometry, such as cyclic cohomology, quantized calculus with Fredholm modules and index pairings. New results include a generalized Streda formula and a proof of the delocalized nature of surface states in topological insulators with non-trivial invariants. The concluding chapter connects the invariants to measurable quantities and thus presents a refined physical characterization of the complex topological insulators. This book is intended for advanced students in mathematical physics and researchers alike.

This book concisely illustrates the techniques of major surface analysis and their applications to a few key examples. Surfaces play crucial roles in various interfacial processes, and their electronic/geometric structures rule the physical/chemical properties. In the last several decades, various techniques for surface analysis have been developed in conjunction with advances in optics, electronics, and quantum beams. This book provides a useful resource for a wide range of scientists and engineers from students to professionals in understanding the main points of each technique, such as principles, capabilities and requirements, at a glance. It is a contemporary encyclopedia for selecting the appropriate method depending on the reader's purpose.

This book is an up-to-date survey of the major optical characterization techniques for thin solid films. Emphasis is placed on practicability of the various approaches. Relevant fundamentals are briefly reviewed before demonstrating the application of these techniques to practically relevant research and development topics. The book is written by international top experts, all of whom are involved in industrial research and development projects.