This thesis presents experimental and theoretical investigations of the connection between the time asymmetry in the short-time evolution of particle clusters and the intrinsic irreversibility of turbulent flows due to the energy cascade. The term turbulence describes a special state of a continuous medium in which many interacting degrees of freedom are excited. One of the interesting phenomena observed in turbulent flows is their time irreversibility. When milk is stirred into coffee, for example, highly complex and interwoven structures are produced, making the mixing process irreversible. This behavior can be analyzed in more detail by studying the dispersion of particle clusters. Previous experimental and numerical studies on the time asymmetry in two-particle dispersion indicate that particles separate faster backwards than forwards in time, but no conclusive explanation has yet been provided. In this thesis, an experimental study on the short-time behavior of two- and four-particle dispersion in a turbulent water flow between two counter-rotating propellers is presented. A brief but rigorous theoretical analysis reveals that the observed time irreversibility is closely linked to the turbulence energy cascade. Additionally, it is demonstrated experimentally that the addition of minute amounts of polymers to the flow has a significant impact on multi-particle dispersion due to an alteration of the energy cascade.

The workshop covered experimental and theoretical topics of current interest on plasma research.

This book provides comprehensive coverage of the new wide-bandgap semiconductor gallium oxide (Ga2O3). Ga2O3 has been attracting much attention due to its excellent materials properties. It features an extremely large bandgap of greater than 4.5 eV and availability of large-size, high-quality native substrates produced from melt-grown bulk single crystals. Ga2O3 is thus a rising star among ultra-wide-bandgap semiconductors and represents a key emerging research field for the worldwide semiconductor community. Expert chapters cover physical properties, synthesis, and state-of-the-art applications, including materials properties, growth techniques of melt-grown bulk single crystals and epitaxial thin films, and many types of devices. The book is an essential resource for academic and industry readers who have an interest in, or plan to start, a new R&D project related to Ga2O3.

This book focuses on the non-traditional branches of physics and mechanics of shock waves that have arisen recently in connection with the intensive study of these waves in a wide variety of phenomena - from nuclear matter to clusters of galaxies. The book is devoted to the various physical phenomena and properties of intense shock waves. The author addresses methods of generation, diagnostics, as well as theoretical methods for describing shock waves at extremely high pressures and temperatures in laboratory and quasi-laboratory conditions. The state of materials with high energy density generated by shock wave compression is discussed. In addition, the book aims to systematize, generalize, and describe from a universal viewpoint the extensive theoretical and experimental material on the physics of high energy densities - the physics and mechanics of intense shock waves. The book is based on lectures delivered by the author at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, the Higher School of Physics of Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation, as well as overviews presented at many scientific conferences and symposia. It is useful to a wide range of researchers in natural sciences, giving them access to original works and allowing them to navigate the fascinating problems of the modern science of intense shock waves.

This thesis devotes three introductory chapters to outlining basic recipes for constructing the quantum Hamiltonian of an arbitrary superconducting circuit, starting from classical circuit design. Since a superconducting circuit is one of the most promising platforms for realizing a practical quantum computer, anyone who is starting out in the field will benefit greatly from this introduction. The second focus of the introduction is the ultrastrong light-matter interaction (USC), where the latest developments are described. This is followed by three main research works comprising quantum memory in USC; scaling up the 1D circuit to a 2D lattice configuration; creation of Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum era quantum error correction codes and polariton-mediated qubit-qubit interaction. The research work detailed in this thesis will make a major contribution to the development of quantum random access memory, a prerequisite for various quantum machine learning algorithms and applications.

This book describes the dynamics of low molecular weight and polymeric molecules when they are constrained under conditions of geometrical confinement. It covers geometrical confinement in different dimensionalities:

(i) in nanometer thin layers or self supporting films ("1-dimensional" confinement)

(ii) in pores or tubes with nanometric diameters ("2-dimensional" confinement)

(iii) as micelles embedded in matrices ("3-dimensional") or as nanodroplets.The dynamics under such conditions have been a much discussed and central topic in the focus of intense worldwide research activities within the last two decades. The present book discusses how the resulting molecular mobility is influenced by the subtle counterbalance between surface effects (typically slowing down molecular dynamics through attractive guest/host interactions) and confinement effects (typically increasing the mobility). It also explains how these influences can be modified and tuned, e.g. through appropriate surface coatings, film thicknesses or pore diameters. ""Dynamics in Confinement"" sums up the present state-of-the-art and introduces to the analytical methods of choice for the study of dynamics in nanometer-scale confinement.

'I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning the history of nanoscale science, and to those who would like to better understand some of the ethical, legal and social dilemmas to what I believe has rightly been labeled the technology of the 21st century.' - Rocky Rawstern, Nanotechnology Now Science and engineering, industry and politics, environmentalists and transhumanists are Discovering the Nanoscale. Policy makers are demanding explicit consideration of ethical, legal and social aspects, and popular books are explaining the achievements and promises of nanoscience. It may therefore seem surprising that this is the first collection of studies that considers nanoscience and nanotechnologies from the critical perspective of Science and Technology Studies (STS). However, when one appreciates that such a critical perspective needs to be historically informed it often involves intimate acquaintance with the research process. Accordingly, this book on the historical, analytical, and ethical study of nanoscience and -technology has come together in a period of several years. Though it presents only first results, these results for the most part stem from sustained investigations of nanoscience and nanotechnologies and of the contexts that are shaping their development. Nanoscience and technologies are developing very quickly, and for this reason, both pose a challenge to the more reflective approach commonly taken by science studies, while at the same time requiring the perspective provided by science studies scholars. Many are convinced that nothing meaningful can be said about the social and ethical implications of nanotechnologies at this early stage, but one can already see what programmatic attitudes go into nanoscale research, what metaphors are shaping it, and what conception of nature is implicit in its vision. It is also often assumed that in order to consider all aspects of nanotechnologies it is sufficient to know a bit of the science and to have some ethical intuitions. This collection of papers establishes that one also needs to appreciate nanoscale research and development in the larger context of the changing relations of science, technology, and society.

This volume summarises recent developments and possible future directions for small molecule X-ray crystallography. It reviews specific areas of crystallography which are rapidly developing and places them in a historical context. The interdisciplinary nature of the technique is emphasised throughout. It introduces and describes the chemical crystallographic and synchrotron facilities which have been at the cutting edge of the subject in recent decades. The introduction of new computer-based algorithms has proved to be very influential and stimulated and accelerated the growth of new areas of science. The challenges which will arise from the acquisition of ever larger databases are considered and the potential impact of artificial intelligence techniques stressed. Recent advances in the refinement and analysis of X-ray crystal structures are highlighted. In addition the recent developments in time resolved single crystal X-ray crystallography are discussed. Recent years have demonstrated how this technique has provided important mechanistic information on solid-state reactions and complements information from traditional spectroscopic measurements. The volume highlights how the prospect of being able to routinely "watch" chemical processes as they occur provides an exciting possibility for the future. Recent advances in X-ray sources and detectors that have also contributed to the possibility of dynamic single-crystal X-ray diffraction methods are presented. The coupling of crystallography and quantum chemical calculations provides detailed information about electron distributions in crystals and has resulted in a more detailed understanding of chemical bonding. The volume will be of interest to chemists and crystallographers with an interest in the synthesis, characterisation and physical and catalytic properties of solid-state materials. Postgraduate students entering the field will benefit from a historical introduction to the subject and a description of those techniques which are currently used. Since X-ray crystallography is used so widely in modern chemistry it will serve to alert senior chemists to those developments which will become routine in coming decades. It will also be of interest to the broad community of computational chemists who study chemical systems.

This thesis both broadens and deepens our understanding of the Brownian world. It addresses new problems in diffusion theory that have recently attracted considerable attention, both from the side of nanotechnology and from the viewpoint of pure academic research. The author focusses on the difussion of interacting particles in restricted geometries and under externally controlled forces. These geometries serve, for example, to model ion transport through narrow channels in cell membranes or a Brownian particle diffusing in an optical trap, now a paradigm for both theory and experiment. The work is exceptional in obtaining explicit analytically formulated answers to such realistic, experimentally relevant questions. At the same time, with its detailed exposition of the problems and a complete set of references, it presents a clear and broadly accessible introduction to the domain. Many of the problem settings and the corresponding exact asymptotic laws are completely new in diffusion theory.

From fabrication to testing and modeling this monograph covers all aspects on the materials class of magneto active polymers. The focus is on computational modeling of manufacturing processes and material parameters. As other smart materials, these elastomers have the ability to change electrical and mechanical properties upon application of magnetic fields. This allows for novel applications ranging from biomedical engineering to mechatronics.

The series Topics in Current Chemistry presents critical reviews of the present and future trends in modern chemical research. The scope of coverage is all areas of chemical science including the interfaces with related disciplines such as biology, medicine and materials science. The goal of each thematic volume is to give the non-specialist reader, whether in academia or industry, a comprehensive insight into an area where new research is emerging which is of interest to a larger scientific audience. Each review within the volume critically surveys one aspect of that topic and places it within the context of the volume as a whole. The most significant developments of the last 5 to 10 years are presented using selected examples to illustrate the principles discussed. The coverage is not intended to be an exhaustive summary of the field or include large quantities of data, but should rather be conceptual, concentrating on the methodological thinking that will allow the non-specialist reader to understand the information presented. Contributions also offer an outlook on potential future developments in the field.

This book discusses the tribological, rheological and optical properties of liquid-crystal nanomaterials as well as lubricant media. It also describes the formation of liquid-crystal materials and the application of cholesteric liquid-crystal compounds in technical friction units and in human and animal joints. Further, it shows the connection between the tribological and other physical properties of liquid-crystal cholesterol compounds and develops a lubricity conceptual model of cholesteric-nematic, liquid-crystalline nanostructures on the basis of physical and energetic interpretations. This general model is valid for all surfaces and friction pairs, including biopolymers, and could lead to applications of cholesteric liquid-crystalline nanomaterials in different friction units and tribosystems as well as in the treatment of joint diseases.

This book is an introduction to a rapidly developing field of modern theoretical physics - the theory of quantum transport at nanoscale. The theoretical methods considered in the book are in the basis of our understanding of charge, spin and heat transport in nanostructures and nanostructured materials and are widely used in nanoelectronics, molecular electronics, spin-dependent electronics (spintronics) and bio-electronics. The book is based on lectures for graduate and post-graduate students at the University of Regensburg and the Technische Universitat Dresden (TU Dresden). The first part is devoted to the basic concepts of quantum transport: Landauer-Buttiker method and matrix Green function formalism for coherent transport, Tunneling (Transfer) Hamiltonian and master equation methods for tunneling, Coulomb blockade, vibrons and polarons. The results in this part are obtained as possible without sophisticated techniques, such as nonequilibrium Green functions, which are considered in detail in the second part. A general introduction into the nonequilibrium Green function theory is given. The approach based on the equation-of-motion technique, as well as more sophisticated one based on the Dyson-Keldysh diagrammatic technique are presented. The main attention is paid to the theoretical methods able to describe the nonequilibrium (at finite voltage) electron transport through interacting nanosystems, specifically the correlation effects due to electron-electron and electron-vibron interactions.

This book presents a collection of selected reviews from PLMMP 2018 that address modern problems in the fields of liquids, solutions and confined systems, critical phenomena, as well as colloidal and biological systems. The papers focus on state-of-the-art developments in the contemporary physics of liquid matter, and are divided into four parts: (i) water and water systems, (ii) physical-chemical properties of liquid systems, (iii) aggregation in liquid systems, and (iv) biological aspects of liquid systems, irradiation influences on liquid systems. Taken together, they cover the latest developments in the broader field of liquid states, including interdisciplinary problems.

This book deals mainly with physical device models which are developed from the carrier transport physics and device geometry considerations. The text concentrates on silicon and gallium arsenide devices and includes models of silicon bipolar junction transistors, junction field effect transistors (JFETs), MESFETs, silicon and GaAs MESFETs, transferred electron devices, pn junction diodes and Schottky varactor diodes. The modelling techniques of more recent devices such as the heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBT) and the high electron mobility transistors are discussed. This book contains details of models for both equilibrium and non-equilibrium transport conditions. The modelling Technique of Small-scale devices is discussed and techniques applicable to submicron-dimensioned devices are included. A section on modern quantum transport analysis techniques is included. Details of essential numerical schemes are given and a variety of device models are used to illustrate the application of these techniques in various fields.

This thesis develops a nested sampling algorithm into a black box tool for directly calculating the partition function, and thus the complete phase diagram of a material, from the interatomic potential energy function. It represents a significant step forward in our ability to accurately describe the finite temperature properties of materials. In principle, the macroscopic phases of matter are related to the microscopic interactions of atoms by statistical mechanics and the partition function. In practice, direct calculation of the partition function has proved infeasible for realistic models of atomic interactions, even with modern atomistic simulation methods. The thesis also shows how the output of nested sampling calculations can be processed to calculate the complete PVT (pressure-volume-temperature) equation of state for a material, and applies the nested sampling algorithm to calculate the pressure-temperature phase diagrams of aluminium and a model binary alloy.

The many-body-theoretical basis and applications of theoretical spectroscopy of condensed matter, e.g. crystals, nanosystems, and molecules are unified in one advanced text for readers from graduate students to active researchers in the field. The theory is developed from first principles including fully the electron-electron interaction and spin interactions. It is based on the many-body perturbation theory, a quantum-field-theoretical description, and Green's functions. The important expressions for ground states as well as electronic single-particle and pair excitations are explained. Based on single-particle and two-particle Green's functions, the Dyson and Bethe-Salpeter equations are derived. They are applied to calculate spectral and response functions. Important spectra are those which can be measured using photoemission/inverse photoemission, optical spectroscopy, and electron energy loss/inelastic X-ray spectroscopy. Important approximations are derived and discussed in the light of selected computational and experimental results. Some numerical implementations available in well-known computer codes are critically discussed. The book is divided into four parts: (i) In the first part the many-electron systems are described in the framework of the quantum-field theory. The electron spin and the spin-orbit interaction are taken into account. Sum rules are derived. (ii) The second part is mainly related to the ground state of electronic systems. The total energy is treated within the density functional theory. The most important approximations for exchange and correlation are delighted. (iii) The third part is essentially devoted to the description of charged electronic excitations such as electrons and holes. Central approximations as Hedin's GW and the T-matrix approximation are discussed.(iv) The fourth part is focused on response functions measured in optical and loss spectroscopies and neutral pair or collective excitations.

One possible method of producing high-quality graphene is to grow it epitaxially; this thesis investigates the mechanisms involved in doing so. It describes how the initial stages of growth on the Ir(111) surface are modelled using both rate equations and kinetic Monte Carlo, based upon nudged elastic band (NEB) calculated reaction energy barriers. The results show that the decomposition mechanism involves production of C monomers by breaking the C-C bond. In turn, the thesis explores the nucleation of carbon clusters on the surface from C monomers prior to graphene formation. Small arch-shaped clusters containing four to six C atoms, which may be key in graphene formation, are predicted to be long-lived on the surface. In closing, the healing of single vacancy defects in the graphene/Ir(111) surface is investigated, and attempts to heal said defects using ethylene molecules is simulated with molecular dynamics and NEB calculated energy barriers.

This new edition presents the essential theoretical and analytical methods needed to understand the recent fusion research of tokamak and alternate approaches. The author describes magnetohydrodynamic and kinetic theories of cold and hot plasmas in detail. The book covers new important topics for fusion studies such as plasma transport by drift turbulence, which depend on the magnetic configuration and zonal flows. These are universal phenomena of microturbulence. They can modify the onset criterion for turbulent transport, instabilities driven by energetic particles as well as alpha particle generation and typical plasma models for computer simulation. The fusion research of tokamaks with various new versions of H modes are explained. The design concept of ITER, the international tokamak experimental reactor, is described for inductively driven operations as well as steady-state operations using non-inductive drives. Alternative approaches of reversed-field pinch and its relaxation process, stellator including quasi-symmetric system, open-end system of tandem mirror and inertial confinement are also explained. Newly added and updated topics in this second edition include zonal flows, various versions of H modes, and steady-state operations of tokamak, the design concept of ITER, the relaxation process of RFP, quasi-symmetric stellator, and tandem mirror. The book addresses graduate students and researchers in the field of controlled fusion.

Describing non-equilibrium "cold" plasmas through a chemical physics approach, this book uses the state-to-state plasma kinetics, which considers each internal state as a new species with its own cross sections. Extended atomic and molecular master equations are coupled with Boltzmann and Monte Carlo methods to solve the electron energy distribution function. Selected examples in different applied fields, such as microelectronics, fusion, and aerospace, are presented and discussed including the self-consistent kinetics in RF parallel plate reactors, the optimization of negative ion sources and the expansion of high enthalpy flows through nozzles of different geometries.

The book will cover the main aspects of the state-to-state kinetic approach for the description of nonequilibrium cold plasmas, illustrating the more recent achievements in the development of kinetic models including the self-consistent coupling of master equations and Boltzmann equation for electron dynamics. To give a complete portrayal, the book will assess fundamental concepts and theoretical formulations, based on a unified methodological approach, and explore the insight in related scientific problems still opened for the research community.

Guided-Wave-Produced Plasmas provides an up-to-date report of the physics of plasmas produced by the high-frequency electromagnetic fields of guided waves. The modelling of discharges generated by travelling surface waves is presented using a unified approach based on modern aspects of nonlinear plasma theory. Diagnostic methods needed for research and the main experimental results on plasma behaviour are covered in detail. The methods and ideas presented in this book possess great potential for a wide variety of applications in plasma technology.

This book reviews recent developments of quantum Monte Carlo methods and some remarkable applications to interacting quantum spin systems and strongly correlated electron systems. It contains twenty-two papers by thirty authors. Some of the features are as follows. The first paper gives the foundations of the standard quantum Monte Carlo method, including some recent results on higher-order decompositions of exponential operators and ordered exponentials. The second paper presents a general review of quantum Monte Carlo methods used in the present book. One of the most challenging problems in the field of quantum Monte Carlo techniques, the negative-sign problem, is also discussed and new methods proposed to partially overcome it. In addition, low-dimensional quantum spin systems are studied. Some interesting applications of quantum Monte Carlo methods to fermion systems are also presented to investigate the role of strong correlations and fluctuations of electrons and to clarify the mechanism of high-Tc superconductivity. Not only thermal properties but also quantum-mechanical ground-state properties have been studied by the projection technique using auxiliary fields. Further, the Haldane gap is confirmed by numerical calculations. Active researchers in the forefront of condensed matter physics as well as young graduate students who want to start learning the quantum Monte Carlo methods will find this book useful.

This book is a compilation of major reprint articles on one of the most intriguing phenomena in modern physics: the quantum Hall effect. Together with a detailed introduction by the editor, this volume serves as a stimulating and valuable reference for students and research workers in condensed matter physics and for those with a particle physics background. The papers have been chosen with the intention of emphasizing the topological aspects of the quantum Hall effect and its connections with other branches of theoretical physics, such as topological quantum field theories and string theory. The contents include sections on integer effect, fractional effect, effect of global topology, effective theories, edge states and non-Abelian statistics.

This new work presents an eclectic treatment of quantum optics, quantum measurements, and mesoscopic physics. Beginning with the fundamentals of quantum optics, the book then provides scientists and engineers with the latest experimental work in the area of optical measurements.