The review articles collected in this volume present a critical assessment of particle acceleration mechanisms and observations from suprathermal particles in the magnetosphere and heliosphere to high-energy cosmic rays, thus covering a range of energies over seventeen orders of magnitude, from 103 eV to 1020 eV. The main themes are observations of accelerated populations from the magnetosphere to extragalactic scales and assessments of the physical processes underlying particle acceleration in different environments (magnetospheres, the solar atmosphere, the heliosphere, supernova remnants, pulsar wind nebulae and relativistic outflows). Several contributions review the status of shock acceleration in different environments and also the role of turbulence in particle acceleration. Observational results are compared with modelling in different parameter regimes. The book concludes with contributions on the status of particle acceleration research and its future perspectives. This volume is aimed at graduate students and researchers active in astrophysics and space science. Previously published in Space Science Reviews journal, Vol. 173 Nos. 1-4, 2012.

Nonlinear optical (NLO) phenomena such as frequency conversion have played a key role in the development of photonic technologies. This thesis reports a detailed study of the molecular response of a large variety of push-pull organic compounds using the Second Harmonic Generation technique, which will serve as a starting point for the investigation at the macroscopic scale of azobenzene-based liquid crystalline polymeric films and their blends with highly efficient NLO
chromophores. These materials are designed with the aim of exploiting their photoadressability in order to tailor their nonlinear behaviour. The magnitude and symmetry of their NL response was successfully controlled via light irradiation and thermal treatments. Moreover, as a specific application, the recording of efficient NLO gratings was achieved.

Ion implantation is one of the key processing steps in silicon integrated circuit technology. Some integrated circuits require up to 17 implantation steps and circuits are seldom processed with less than 10 implantation steps. Controlled doping at controlled depths is an essential feature of implantation. Ion beam processing can also be used to improve corrosion resistance, to harden surfaces, to reduce wear and, in general, to improve materials properties. This book presents the physics and materials science of ion implantation and ion beam modification of materials. It covers ion-solid interactions used to predict ion ranges, ion straggling and lattice disorder. Also treated are shallow-junction formation and slicing silicon with hydrogen ion beams. Topics important for materials modification topics, such as ion-beam mixing, stresses, and sputtering, are also described.

Using the nano metric resolution of atomic force microscopy techniques, this work explores the rich fundamental physics and novel functionalities of domain walls in ferroelectric materials, the nano scale interfaces separating regions of differently oriented spontaneous polarization. Due to the local symmetry-breaking caused by the change in polarization, domain walls are found to possess an unexpected lateral piezoelectric response, even when this is symmetry-forbidden in the parent material. This has interesting potential applications in electromechanical devices based on ferroelectric domain patterning. Moreover, electrical conduction is shown to arise at domain walls in otherwise insulating lead zirconate titanate, the first such observation outside of multiferroic bismuth ferrite, due to the tendency of the walls to localize defects. The role of defects is then explored in the theoretical framework of disordered elastic interfaces possessing a characteristic roughness scaling and complex dynamic response. It is shown that the heterogeneous disorder landscape in ferroelectric thin films leads to a breakdown of the usual self-affine roughness, possibly related to strong pinning at individual defects. Finally, the roles of varying environmental conditions and defect densities in domain switching are explored and shown to be adequately modelled as a competition between screening effects and pinning.

My intent in writing this book is to present an introduction to the thermo- chanical theory required to conduct research and pursue applications of shock physics in solid materials. Emphasis is on the range of moderate compression that can be produced by high-velocity impact or detonation of chemical exp- sives and in which elastoplastic responses are observed and simple equations of state are applicable. In the interest of simplicity, the presentation is restricted to plane waves producing uniaxial deformation. Although applications often - volve complex multidimensional deformation fields it is necessary to begin with the simpler case. This is also the most important case because it is the usual setting of experimental research. The presentation is also restricted to theories of material response that are simple enough to permit illustrative problems to be solved with minimal recourse to numerical analysis. The discussions are set in the context of established continuum-mechanical principles. I have endeavored to define the quantities encountered with some care and to provide equations in several convenient forms and in a way that lends itself to easy reference. Thermodynamic analysis plays an important role in continuum mechanics, and I have included a presentation of aspects of this subject that are particularly relevant to shock physics. The notation adopted is that conventional in expositions of modern continuum mechanics, insofar as possible, and variables are explained as they are encountered. Those experienced in shock physics may find some of the notation unconventional.

The book deals with the development of continual models of turbulent natural media. Such models serve as a ground for the statement and numerical evaluation of the key problems of the structure and evolution of the numerous astrophysical and geophysical objects. The processes of ordering (self-organization) in an originally chaotic turbulent medium are addressed and treated in detail with the use of irreversible thermodynamics and stochastic dynamics approaches which underlie the respective models. Different examples of ordering set up in the natural environment and outer space are brought and thoroughly discussed, the main focus being given to the protoplanetary discs formation and evolution.

Quasielastic neutron scattering has made many important contributions to the atomistic elucidation of diffusion processes in solids. The aim of this book is to inform researchers in solid state physics, solid state chemistry, and inorganic materials science of the potential of quasielastic neutron scattering. The book has been written for experimentalists and contains in its first part the theoretical background on neutrons, neutron scattering, and solid state diffusion, which is essential for the proper use of quasielastic neutron scattering. This general part should be useful for non-experts in the field of neutron scattering and diffusion as well. The second part of the book addresses the experts in this vivid field of research. It summarizes the scientific applications of quasielastic neutron scattering to special solid state materials systems, as for example to hydrogen in metals or to diffusion in solid state ionic conductors.

This book gives an account of state-of-the-art investigations of properties and processes at solid-liquid interfaces with the same precision as it is standard in ultrahigh vacuum based surface science. Using combinations of in-situ and ex-situ experimental methods fundamental and relevant phenomena such as adsorption and desorption of ions and molecules, restructuring of surfaces, thin film and nanocluster growth, and electrochemical reactions on the micrometer scale are addressed. The overview includes a wide range of experimental techniques and examples of solid-liquid interfaces and aims at stimulating an expansion of this type of important Interface Science.

At present, there is an increasing interest in the prediction of properties of classical and new materials such as substitutional alloys, their surfaces, and metallic or semiconductor multilayers. A detailed understanding based on a thus of the utmost importance for fu microscopic, parameter-free approach is ture developments in solid state physics and materials science. The interrela tion between electronic and structural properties at surfaces plays a key role for a microscopic understanding of phenomena as diverse as catalysis, corrosion, chemisorption and crystal growth. Remarkable progress has been made in the past 10-15 years in the understand ing of behavior of ideal crystals and their surfaces by relating their properties to the underlying electronic structure as determined from the first principles. Similar studies of complex systems like imperfect surfaces, interfaces, and mul tilayered structures seem to be accessible by now. Conventional band-structure methods, however, are of limited use because they require an excessive number of atoms per elementary cell, and are not able to account fully for e.g. substitu tional disorder and the true semiinfinite geometry of surfaces. Such problems can be solved more appropriately by Green function techniques and multiple scattering formalism."

The aim of this book is the pedagogical exploration of the basic principles of quantum-statistical thermodynamics as applied to various states of matter - ranging from rare gases to astrophysical matter with high-energy density. The reader will learn in this work that thermodynamics and quantum statistics are still the concepts on which even the most advanced research is operating - despite of a flood of modern concepts, classical entities like temperature, pressure, energy and entropy are shown to remain fundamental. The physics of gases, plasmas and high-energy density matter is still a growing field and even though solids and liquids dominate our daily life, more than 99 percent of the visible Universe is in the state of gases and plasmas and the overwhelming part of matter exists at extreme conditions connected with very large energy densities, such as in the interior of stars. This text, combining material from lectures and advanced seminars given by the authors over many decades, is a must-have introduction and reference for both newcomers and seasoned researchers alike.

This book presents a comprehensive description of phonons and their interactions in systems with different dimensions and length scales. Internationally-recognized leaders describe theories and measurements of phonon interactions in relation to the design of materials with exotic properties such as metamaterials, nano-mechanical systems, next-generation electronic, photonic, and acoustic devices, energy harvesting, optical information storage, and applications of phonon lasers in a variety of fields.

The emergence of techniques for control of semiconductor properties and geometry has enabled engineers to design structures in which functionality is derived from controlling electron behavior. As manufacturing techniques have greatly expanded the list of available materials and the range of attainable length scales, similar opportunities now exist for designing devices whose functionality is derived from controlling phonon behavior. However, progress in this area is hampered by gaps in our knowledge of phonon transport across and along arbitrary interfaces, the scattering of phonons with crystal defects, interface roughness and mass-mixing, delocalized electrons/collective electronic excitations, and solid acoustic vibrations when these occur in structures with small physical dimensions. This book providesa comprehensive description of phonons and their interactions in systems with different dimensions and length scales. Theories and measurements of phonon interactions are described in relation to the design of materials with exotic properties such as metamaterials, nano-mechanical systems, next-generation electronic, photonic, and acoustic devices, energy harvesting, optical information storage, and applications of phonon lasers in a variety of fields."

Concepts of nonlinear physics are applied to an increasing number of research disciplines. With this volume, the editors offer a selection of articles on nonlinear topics in progress, ranging from physics and chemistry to biology and some applications of social science. The book covers quantum optics, electron crystallization, cellular or flow patterns in fluids and in granular media, biological systems, and the control of brain structures via neuronal excitation. Chemical patterns are looked at both in bulk solutions and on surfaces in heterogeneous systems. From regular structures, the authors turn to the more complex behavior in biology and physics, such as hydrodynamical turbulence, low-dimensional dynamics in solid-state physics, and gravity.

This volume is a collection of lectures presented during the 2009 International School on High-pressure Crystal- graphy, which took place at the Ettore Majorana Center for Scientific Culture, between June 4 and 14, 2009, in the very picturesque Sicilian town of Erice. st The 2009 school was the 41 course of the "International School of Cryst- lography" organized at the Majorana Center and was directed by Elena Figure 1. Audience, including local Boldyreva (Novosibirsk University) organizers (orange scarfs) and student and Przemyslaw Dera (University of participants during one of the lectures. Chicago). Unmatched support and excellent on-site organization was provided by the expert team consisting of Prof. Paola Spadon (Uniersity of Padova), Prof. Lodovico Riva di San Severino (University of Bologna), Elena Papinutto and Prof. John Irvin (University of California, San Franciso), aided by great team of young local organizers ("orange scarfs"). Major part of funding for the school was provided by a grant from the NATO Science for Peace and Security program, through which the 2009 Erice school was recognized as a NATO Advanced Study Institute (ASI).

This book deals with solving mathematically the unsteady flame propagation equations. New original mathematical methods for solving complex non-linear equations and investigating their properties are presented. Pole solutions for flame front propagation are developed. Premixed flames and filtration combustion have remarkable properties: the complex nonlinear integro-differential equations for these problems have exact analytical solutions described by the motion of poles in a complex plane. Instead of complex equations, a finite set of ordinary differential equations is applied. These solutions help to investigate analytically and numerically properties of the flame front propagation equations.

Gallium Nitride and its alloys with InN and AlN, have recently emerged as important semiconductor materials with application to yellow, green, blue and ultraviolet portions of the spectrum as emitters, detectors and high temperature electronics. LEDs based on wide badgap GaN nitrides exhibit excellent longevity and brightness levels. Combined with red LEDs one can, for the first time, have full colour semiconductor displays.
The 4 day symposium was presented at the combined 1997 International Conference on Applied Materials/European Materials Research Society Spring meeting (ICAM'97/E-MRS'97) held in Strasbourg (France) from 16-20 June 1997, provided a forum for active nitride researchers covering the most recent developments in all areas of nitride semiconductors. Sessions focused on the aspects of epitaxial and bulk growth of GaN and its alloys, on optical properties and structural and electrical characterisation, quantum phenomena and light-emitting devices such as LEDs and laser diodes.

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

This 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.

Lithium niobate, LiNbO , is an oxide ferroelectric with various kinds of pro- 3 nouncedphysicalproperties. Thisversatilityhaspromoteditscareerinscience anddevices. Ithasbeenparticularlyfruitfulintheopticalregime,wheremany e?ects have been found in LiNbO and devices introduced using it as a host. 3 One of the few big drawbacks, namely the low level laser damage threshold based on photorefraction due to extrinsic defects was discovered very early. A relatively new topic, not involved so far in any general description, is a fundamental dependence of the optical properties of LiNbO on intrinsic de- 3 fects. Their importance has been realised out due to the development of varies growthtechniquesintherecentpast. Theprogressinthegrowthandstudiesof LiNbO crystals with di?erent composition, particularly almost stoichiomet- 3 ric ones, has revealed a signi?cant and sometimes decisive role of the intrinsic defects. For example, the photoinduced charge transport, and therefore the photorefractive properties governing the recording of the phase gratings in LiNbO , are strongly controlled by the content of intrinsic defects. The re- 3 cently found impact of intrinsic defects on the coercive ?eld in LiNbO is 3 of fundamental importance for the creation of periodically poled structures (PPLN) aimed at the optical-frequency conversion in the quasi-phase mat- ing (QPM) mode of operation. As a consequence of these results, an idea of the intrinsic defects in LiNbO has been developed during the last decade 3 and involves microscopic studies on defects, photorefraction and ferroelectric switching using spectroscopic and structure methods.

This comprehensive collection of lectures by leading experts in the field introduces and reviews all relevant computer simulation methods and their applications in condensed matter systems. Volume 1 is an in-depth introduction to a vast spectrum of computational techniques for statistical mechanical systems of condensed matter. Volume 2 is a collection of state-of-the-art surveys on numerical experiments carried out for a great number of systems.

Plasma Physics: Confinement, Transport and Collective Effects provides an overview of modern plasma research with special focus on confinement and related issues. Beginning with a broad introduction, the book leads graduate students and researchers also those from related fields - to an understanding of the state-of-the-art in modern plasma physics. Furthermore, it presents a methodological cross section ranging from plasma applications and plasma diagnostics to numerical simulations, the latter providing an increasingly important link between theory and experiment. Effective references guide the reader from introductory texts through to contemporary research. Some related exercises in computational plasma physics are supplied on a special web site

This book introduces recent theoretical developments concerning the dynamic behaviour of fracture. Readers learn how the recent development of molecular dynamics and other state-of-the-art methods can help to solve the important problem of fracture from the atomic level.

Historical Overview of (Mini)emulsion Polymerizations and Preparation of Hybrid Latex Particles, by A.M. van Herk;
*
Physical Methods for the Preparation of Hybrid Nanocomposite Polymer Latex Particles, by R. F.A. Teixeira and S. A.F. Bon;
*
Organic/Inorganic Composite Latexes: The Marriage of Emulsion Polymerization and Inorganic Chemistry, by Elodie Bourgeat-Lami and Muriel Lansalot;
*
Preparation of Hybrid Latex Particles and Core Shell Particles Through the Use of Controlled Radical Polymerization Techniques in Aqueous Media, by Bernadette Charleux, Franck D Agosto, and Guillaume Delaittre;
*
Miniemulsion Polymerization as a Means to Encapsulate Organic and Inorganic Materials, by Clemens K.Weiss and Katharina Landfester;
*
Organic Inorganic Hybrid Magnetic Latex, by Md Mahbubor Rahman and Abdelhamid Elaissari

The operation of semiconductor devices depends upon the use of electrical potential barriers (such as gate depletion) in controlling the carrier densities (electrons and holes) and their transport. Although a successful device design is quite complicated and involves many aspects, the device engineering is mostly to devise a "best" device design by defIning optimal device structures and manipulating impurity profIles to obtain optimal control of the carrier flow through the device. This becomes increasingly diffIcult as the device scale becomes smaller and smaller. Since the introduction of integrated circuits, the number of individual transistors on a single chip has doubled approximately every three years. As the number of devices has grown, the critical dimension of the smallest feature, such as a gate length (which is related to the transport length defIning the channel), has consequently declined. The reduction of this design rule proceeds approximately by a factor of 1. 4 each generation, which means we will be using 0. 1-0. 15 ). lm rules for the 4 Gb chips a decade from now. If we continue this extrapolation, current technology will require 30 nm design rules, and a cell 3 2 size < 10 nm , for a 1Tb memory chip by the year 2020. New problems keep hindering the high-performance requirement. Well-known, but older, problems include hot carrier effects, short-channel effects, etc. A potential problem, which illustrates the need for quantum transport, is caused by impurity fluctuations.

Advanced materials are the basis of modern science and technology. This proceedings volume presents a broad spectrum of studies of novel materials covering their processing techniques, physics, mechanics, and applications. The book is concentrated on nanostructures, ferroelectric crystals, materials and composites, materials for solar cells and also polymeric composites. Nanotechnology approaches, modern piezoelectric techniques and also latest achievements in materials science, condensed matter physics, mechanics of deformable solids and numerical methods are presented. Great attention is devoted to novel devices with high accuracy, longevity and extended possibilities to work in wide temperature and pressure ranges, aggressive media etc. The characteristics of materials and composites with improved properties opening new possibilities of various physical processes, in particular transmission and receipt of signals under water, are described.

Life was simple when the dynamic, the spectral and the resolving powers of our instruments were small. One observed whole objects - planets, stars, sunspots, galaxies, often in rainbow colours. Then the revolution occurred: we acquired the centimetric eyes, the mil limetric eyes, the infrared eyes, the ultraviolet eyes, the X-ray eyes and the, -ray eyes. With these we see mottles on the surface of stars, streams in sunspots, and spirals in nuclei of galaxies. We see regions of multiple mass densities and temperatures in a precari ous balance, losing it occasionally, exhaling flares. The universe is timed, cosmic phenomena are clocked; eternity is lost and variabil ity is bought. Microarcsecond resolutions revealed stirring and siz zling interiors underneath serene surfaces. Short durations and small scales demanded employing a discipline with similar attributes - the discipline of Plasmas and Fluids - known more for its complexity than for its felicity. Some would like to wish it away. We shall learn about plasmas for it is too little familiarity that breeds fear. Complexity can be systemized, to a large extent, by looking for a common denominator among apparently disparate phe nomena. It is not immediately obvious what the contents and the style of a graduate level course on plasmas and fluids aimed at understanding astrophysical phenomena should be. Plasmas and fluids are huge subjects by themselves. The cosmic phenomena where plasmas and fluids playa definite role are equally diverse and numerous."