This book, edited by M. A. Ramos and contributed by several reputed physicists in the field, presents a timely review on low-temperature thermal and vibrational properties of glasses, and of disordered solids in general. In 1971, the seminal work of Zeller and Pohl was published, which triggered this relevant research field in condensed matter physics. Hence, this book also commemorates about 50 years of that highlight with a comprehensive, updated review.In brief, glasses (firstly genuine amorphous solids but later on followed by different disordered crystals) were found to universally exhibit low-temperature properties (specific heat, thermal conductivity, acoustic and dielectric attenuation, etc.) unexpectedly very similar among them - and very different from those of their crystalline counterparts.These universal 'anomalies' of glasses and other disordered solids remain very controversial topics in condensed matter physics. They have been addressed exhaustively in this book, through many updated experimental data, a survey of most relevant models and theories, as well as by computational simulations.

The first part of this book overviews the physics of lasers and describes some of the more common types of lasers and their applications. Applications of lasers include CD/DVD players, laser printers and fiber optic communication devices. Part II of this book describes the phenomenon of Bose-Einstein condensation. The experimental techniques used to create a Bose-Einstein condensate provide an interesting and unconventional application of lasers; that is, the cooling and confinement of a dilute gas at very low temperature.

'Witty, approachable and captivating' - Robin Ince 'A fascinating exploration of how we learned what matter really is' - Sean Carroll 'A delightfully fresh and accessible approach to one of the great quests of science' - Graham Farmelo 'Lays out not just what we know, but how we found out (and what is left to be discovered' - Katie Mack 'If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe' - Carl Sagan Inspired by Sagan's famous line, How To Make An Apple Pie From Scratch sets out on a journey to unearth everything we know about our universe: how it started, how we found out, and what we still have left to discover. Will we ever be able to understand the very first moments of the world we inhabit? What is matter really made of? How did anything survive the fearsome heat of the Big Bang? In pursuit of answers, we meet the scientists, astronomers and philosophers who brought us to our present understanding of the world - offering readers a front-row seat to the most dramatic journey human beings have ever embarked on. Harry Cliff's How To Make An Apple Pie From Scratch is an essential, fresh and funny guide to how we got to where we are now - and what we have to come.

In this book, cancer theranostics applications of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles are overviewed in details. Moreover, their synthesis, characterization, multifunctionality, disease targeting, biodistribution, pharmacokinetics and toxicity have been briefly highlighted. Finally, we have mentioned the current examples of clinical trials of magnetic nanoparticles in cancer theranostics along with their future scopes and challenges.

Advanced fiber materials have been developed for various superior applications because of their higher mechanical flexibility, high-temperature resistance, and outstanding chemical stability. This book presents an overview of the current development of advanced fiber materials, fabrication methods, and applications. Applications covered include pollution control, environment, energy, information storage technology, optical and photonic, photocatalysis, textile, drug delivery, tumor therapy, corrosion protection applications, and a state of art of advanced fiber materials.

Nanomedicine is a developing field, which includes different disciplines such as material science, chemistry, engineering and medicine devoted to the design, synthesis and construction of high-tech nanostructures. The ability of these structures to have their chemical and physical properties tuned by structural modification, has allowed their use in drug delivery systems, gene therapy delivery, and various types of theranostic approaches. Colloidal noble metal nanoparticles and other nanostructures have many therapeutic and diagnostic applications. The concept of drug targeting as a magic bullet has led to much research in chemical modification to design and optimize the binding to targeted receptors. It is important to understand the precise relationship between the drug and the carrier and its ability to target specific tissues, and pathogens to make an efficient drug delivery system. This book covers advances based on different drug delivery systems: polymeric and hyper branched nanomaterials, carbon-based nanomaterials, nature-inspired nanomaterials, and pathogen-based carriers.

Since the initial predictions for the existence of Weyl fermions in condensed matter, many different experimental techniques have confirmed the existence of Weyl semimetals. Among these techniques, optical responses have shown a variety of effects associated with the existence of Weyl fermions. In chiral crystals, we find a new type of fermions protected by crystal symmetries — the chiral multifold fermions — that can be understood as a higher-spin generalization of Weyl fermions. This work provides a complete description of all chiral multifold fermions, studying their topological properties and the k·p models describing them. We compute the optical conductivity of all chiral multifold fermions and establish their optical selection rules. We find that the activation frequencies are different for each type of multifold fermion, thus constituting an experimental fingerprint for each type of multifold fermion. Building on the theoretical results obtained in the first part of our analysis, we study two chiral multifold semimetals: RhSi and CoSi. We analyze the experimental results with k·p and tight-binding models based on the crystal symmetries of the material. We trace back the features observed in the experimental optical conductivity to the existence of multifold fermions near the Fermi level and estimate the chemical potential and the scattering lifetime in both materials. Finally, we provide an overview of second-order optical responses and study the second-harmonic generation of RhSi. We find a sizeable second-harmonic response in the low-energy regime associated with optical transitions between topological bands. However, this regime is extremely challenging to access with the current experimental techniques. We conclude by providing an overview of the main results, highlighting potential avenues to further research on chiral multifold semimetals and the future of optical responses as experimental probes to characterize topological phases.

Corrosion is a high-cost and potentially hazardous issue in numerous industries. The potential use of diverse carbon nanoallotropes in corrosion protection, prevention and control is a subject of rising attention. This book covers the current advancements of carbon nanoallotropes in metal corrosion management, including the usage of nanostructure materials to produce high-performance corrosion inhibitors and corrosion-resistant coatings.

In the last years there have been great advances in the applications of topology and differential geometry to problems in condensed matter physics. Concepts drawn from topology and geometry have become essential to the understanding of several phenomena in the area. Physicists have been creative in producing models for actual physical phenomena which realize mathematically exotic concepts and new phases have been discovered in condensed matter in which topology plays a leading role. An important classification paradigm is the concept of topological order, where the state characterizing a system does not break any symmetry, but it defines a topological phase in the sense that certain fundamental properties change only when the system passes through a quantum phase transition. The main purpose of this book is to provide a brief, self-contained introduction to some mathematical ideas and methods from differential geometry and topology, and to show a few applications in condensed matter. It conveys to physicists the basis for many mathematical concepts, avoiding the detailed formality of most textbooks.