This monograph stems from the lectures given during the summer course at the University of La Laguna, Canary Islands, Spain. It includes the main characterization techniques useful nowadays for ceramics, glasses, and glass-ceramics, and reviews the new microscopes for characterizing materials, and gives an overview of inorganic materials such as zeolites. The theory for XRD texture analysis and analytical methods are also covered. The book is not only up to date on these techniques but also on applications to inorganic materials, both amorphous and crystalline, such as glasses, glass-ceramics, and ceramics.

This introductory text develops the fundamental physics of the behavior of granular materials. It covers the basic properties of flow, friction, and fluidization of uniform granular materials; discusses mixing and segregation of heterogeneous materials (the famous "brazil-nut problem"); and concludes with an introduction to numerical models. The presentation begins with simple experiments and uses their results to build concepts and theorems about materials whose behavior is often quite counter-intuitive; presenting in a unified way the background needed to understand current work in the field. Developed for students at the University of Paris, the text will be suitable for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduates; while also being of interest to researchers and engineers just entering the field.

Features Introduces the physics of accelerators, lasers, and plasma in tandem with the industrial methodology of inventiveness. Outlines a path from idea to practical implementation of scientific and technological innovation. Contains more than 380 illustrations and numerous end-of-chapter exercises.

This graduate-level text presents the fundamental physics of solid-state lasers, including the basis of laser action and the optical and electronic properties of laser materials. After an overview of the topic, the first part begins with a review of quantum mechanics and solid-state physics, spectroscopy, and crystal field theory; it then treats the quantum theory of radiation, the emission and absorption of radiation, and nonlinear optics; concluding with discussions of lattice vibrations and ion-ion interactions, and their effects on optical properties and laser action. The second part treats specific solid-state laser materials, the prototypical ruby and Nd-YAG systems being treated in greatest detail; and the book concludes with a discussion of novel and non-standard materials. Some knowledge of quantum mechanics and solid-state physics is assumed, but the discussion is as self-contained as possible, making this an excellent reference, as well as useful for independent study.

There are more than 20 million chemicals in the literature, with new materials being synthesized each week. Most of these molecules are stable, and the 3-dimensional arrangement of the atoms in the molecules, in the various solids may be determined by routine x-ray crystallography. When this is done, it is found that this vast range of molecules, with varying sizes and shapes can be accommodated by only a handful of solid structures. This limited number of architectures for the packing of molecules of all shapes and sizes, to maximize attractive intermolecular forces and minimizing repulsive intermolecular forces, allows us to develop simple models of what holds the molecules together in the solid. In this volume we look at the origin of the molecular architecture of crystals; a topic that is becoming increasingly important and is often termed, crystal engineering. Such studies are a means of predicting crystal structures, and of designing crystals with particular properties by manipulating the structure and interaction of large molecules. That is, creating new crystal architectures with desired physical characteristics in which the molecules pack together in particular architectures; a subject of particular interest to the pharmaceutical industry.

This book presents the first comprehensive, interdisciplinary review of the rapidly developing field of air lasing. In most applications of lasers, such as cutting and engraving, the laser source is brought to the point of service where the laser beam is needed to perform its function. However, in some important applications such as remote atmospheric sensing, placing the laser at a convenient location is not an option. Current sensing schemes rely on the detection of weak backscattering of ground-based, forward-propagating optical probes, and possess limited sensitivity. The concept of air lasing (or atmospheric lasing) relies on the idea that the constituents of the air itself can be used as an active laser medium, creating a backward-propagating, impulsive, laser-like radiation emanating from a remote location in the atmosphere. This book provides important insights into the current state of development of air lasing and its applications.

As the growing number of conference proceedings, preprints, periodicals and popular journal articles are being joined by various electronic forms of dissemination of research, the series Progress in Low Temperature Physics assumes a particular responsibility in providing excellent reviews, guiding the reading of the literature and providing direction for future research possibilities. In this most recent volume, the main theme is research on superfluid and adsorbed phases of helium.

In five chapters the following topics are dealt with. Chapter one is a review of one of the essential characteristics of superfluid 4He, the Landau critical velocity. Chapter two reviews the amazing properties of coherent spin dynamics in superfluid 3He. The next chapter examines a unique situation with a number of thermodynamic transitions between superfluid states and discusses the current experimental and theoretical situation. Properties of phases of 3He adsorbed on graphite are discussed in the following chapter, and in a complementary final chapter a review is presented on the properties of multilayer 3He-4He mixture films.

CMOS DC-DC Converters aims to provide a comprehensive dissertation on the matter of monolithic inductive Direct-Current to Direct-Current (DC-DC) converters. For this purpose seven chapters are defined which will allow the designer to gain specific knowledge on the design and implementation of monolithic inductive DC-DC converters, starting from the very basics.

The first edition of this book provided an introduction to the many static and dynamic features of magnetic flux structures in what are now called classical or low-temperature superconductors. It went out of print not long after the discovery of high-temperature superconductors in 1986 by J.G. Bednorz and K.A. Miiller, a discovery which resulted worldwide in an explosive growth of research and development in the field of superconductivity. Because of this upsurge of activities, a strong demand for this book clearly continued. Since the contents of the fourteen chapters of the first edition are still valid and continue to represent a useful introduction into the various subjects, it was felt that a reprinting of these chapters in this second edition would be highly attractive. In this way, the reader is also able to trace the earlier scienti fic developments, themselves constituting important ideas sometimes forgot ten by the new community dealing with high-temperature superconductivity. However, because of the exciting and important recent progress in the field of high-temperature superconductivity, an extensive chapter has been added in this second edition. It provides a summary of the new developments and a discussion of the highlights. Here keywords such as vortex matter, vortex imaging, and half-integer magnetic flux quanta describe surprising new issues."

The purpose of 'Numerical Analysis of Heat and Mass Transfer in Porous Media' is to provide a collection of recent contributions in the field of computational heat and mass transfer in porous media. The main benefit of the book is that it discusses the majority of the topics related to numerical transport phenomenon in engineering (including state-of-the-art and applications) and presents some of the most important theoretical and computational developments in porous media and transport phenomenon domain, providing a self-contained major reference that is appealing to both the scientists, researchers and the engineers. At the same time, these topics encounter of a variety of scientific and engineering disciplines, such as chemical, civil, agricultural, mechanical engineering, etc. The book is divided in several chapters that intend to be a resume of the current state of knowledge for benefit of professional colleagues.

"Aperiodic Crystals" collects 37 selected papers from the scientific contributions presented at "Aperiodic" 2012 - theSeventh International Conference on Aperiodic Crystalsheld held in Cairns, Australia, 2-7 of September 2012.

The volume discusses state-of-the-art discoveries, new trends and applications of aperiodic crystals - including incommensurately modulated crystals, composite crystals, and quasicrystals - from a wide range of different perspectives. Starting with a general historical introduction to aperiodic crystals, the book proceeds to examine the complex mathematics of aperiodic long-range order, as well as the theoretical approaches aimed at understanding some of the unique properties and mechanisms underlying the existence of aperiodic crystals. The book then explores in detail such topics as complex metallic alloys, modulated structures, quasicrystals and their approximants, dynamics, disorder and defects in quasicrystals. It concludes with an analysis of quasicrystal surfaces and their properties.

By describing the latest research and the progress made on the structure determination of aperiodic crystals and the influence of this unique structure on their physical properties, this book represents a valuable resource to mathematicians, crystallographers, physicists, chemists, materials and surface scientists, and even architects and artists, interested in the fascinating nature of aperiodic crystals.

In recent years there have been exciting developments in techniques for producing multilayered structures of different materials, often with thicknesses as small as only a few atomic layers. These artificial structures, known as superlattices, can either be grown with the layers stacked in an alternating fashion (the periodic case) or according to some other well-defined mathematical rule (the quasiperiodic case). This book describes research on the excitations (or wave-like behavior) of these materials, with emphasis on how the material properties are coupled to photons (the quanta of the light or the electromagnetic radiation) to produce mixed waves called polaritons.
.Clear and comprehensive account of polaritons in multilayered structures
.Covers both periodic and quasiperiodic superlattices
.Careful attention to theoretical developments and tools
.Invaluable guide for researchers in this field
.Shows developments from the basics to advanced topics

This thesis deals with the processes that create ordered assemblies from disordered nanoparticles. Ordered packings of nanoscale particles can exhibit unusual properties. This work investigates the self-assembly of such particles, a process widely employed for the generation of ordered structures, but not yet well understood. In situ methods are used to observe the assembly of sub-micron polymer lattices and sub-10 nm gold particles into crystalline monolayers and aggregates. On the basis of these results, the book develops new models that describe the competition between different influences, such as thermal agitation and directional forces. It suggests necessary criteria that lead to the emergence of order.

This book provides a detailed overview of the plasma fluidized bed. It is an innovative tool and generally combines plasma process with another efficient reactor, fluidized bed, providing an excellent method for particulate processes over conventional technology. The development and designs of typical types of plasma fluidized beds, mainly thermal plasma fluidized beds and non-thermal plasma fluidized beds are discussed. The influencing factors on the performance of plasma fluidized beds are analyzed in detail. The mechanism, i.e. the discharge characteristics, hydrodynamics, heat transfer and mass transfer are analyzed to offer a further insight of plasma fluidized beds. Applications of plasma fluidized beds for different areas, including metallurgy extraction, green energy process, environmental protection and advanced materials are presented. The book is a valuable reference for scientists, engineers and graduate students in chemical engineering and relative fields.

This corrected and updated second edition of "Scattering Theory" presents a concise and modern coverage of the subject. In the present treatment, special attention is given to the role played by the long-range behaviour of the projectile-target interaction, and a theory is developed, which is well suited to describe near-threshold bound and continuum states in realistic binary systems such as diatomic molecules or molecular ions. It is motivated by the fact that experimental advances have shifted and broadened the scope of applications where concepts from scattering theory are used, e.g. to the field of ultracold atoms and molecules, which has been experiencing enormous growth in recent years, largely triggered by the successful realization of Bose-Einstein condensates of dilute atomic gases in 1995. The book contains sections on special topics such as near-threshold quantization, quantum reflection, Feshbach resonances and the quantum description of scattering in two dimensions. The level of abstraction is kept as low as at all possible and deeper questions related to the mathematical foundations of scattering theory are passed by. It should be understandable for anyone with a basic knowledge of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics. The book is intended for advanced students and researchers, and it is hoped that it will be useful for theorists and experimentalists alike.

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Quantum and chaos, key concepts in contemporary science, are incompatible by nature. This volume presents an investigation into quantum transport in mesoscopic or nanoscale systems which are classically chaotic and shows the success and failure of quantal, semiclassical, and random matrix theories in dealing with questions emerging from the mesoscopic cosmos. These traditional theories are critically analysed, and this leads to a new direction. To reconcile quantum with chaos and to restore genuine temporal chaos in quantum systems, a time-discrete variant of quantum dynamics is proposed. Audience: This book will be of interest to graduate students and researchers in physics, chemistry and mathematics, whose work involves fundamental questions of quantum mechanics in chaotic systems.

"Blurb & Contents" This current and comprehensive treatment of the physics of small- amplitude waves in hot magnetized plasmas provides a thorough update of the author's classic Theory of Plasma Waves. New topics include quasi-linear theory, inhomogeneous plasmas, collisions, absolute and convective instability, and mode conversion. Valuable for graduates and advanced undergraduates and an indispensable reference work for researchers in plasmas, controlled fusion, and space science.

"Fundamental Tests of Physics with Optically Trapped Microspheres "details experiments on studying the Brownian motion of an optically trapped microsphere with ultrahigh resolution and the cooling of its motion towards the quantum ground state.
Glass microspheres were trapped in water, air, and vacuum with optical tweezers; and a detection system that can monitor the position of a trapped microsphere with Angstrom spatial resolution and microsecond temporal resolution was developed to study the Brownian motion of a trapped microsphere in air over a wide range of pressures. The instantaneous velocity of a Brownian particle, in particular, was studied for the very first time, and the results provide direct verification of the Maxwell-Boltzmann velocity distribution and the energy equipartition theorem for a Brownian particle. For short time scales, the ballistic regime of Brownian motion is observed, in contrast to the usual diffusive regime.
In vacuum, active feedback is used to cool the center-of-mass motion of an optically trapped microsphere from room temperature to a minimum temperature of about 1.5 mK. This is an important step toward studying the quantum behaviors of a macroscopic particle trapped in vacuum.

'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.

The physics of strongly correlated fermions and bosons in a disordered envi ronment and confined geometries is at the focus of intense experimental and theoretical research efforts. Advances in material technology and in low temper ature techniques during the last few years led to the discoveries of new physical of atomic gases and a possible metal phenomena including Bose condensation insulator transition in two-dimensional high mobility electron structures. Situ ations were the electronic system is so dominated by interactions that the old concepts of a Fermi liquid do not necessarily make a good starting point are now routinely achieved. This is particularly true in the theory of low dimensional systems such as carbon nanotubes, or in two dimensional electron gases in high mobility devices where the electrons can form a variety of new structures. In many of these sys tems disorder is an unavoidable complication and lead to a host of rich physical phenomena. This has pushed the forefront of fundamental research in condensed matter towards the edge where the interplay between many-body correlations and quantum interference enhanced by disorder has become the key to the understand ing of novel phenomena."

Advances in Quantum Methods and Applications in Chemistry, Physics, and Biology includes peer-reviewed contributions based on carefully selected presentations given at the 17th International Workshop on Quantum Systems in Chemistry, Physics, and Biology. New trends and state-of-the-art developments in the quantum theory of atomic and molecular systems, and condensed matter (including biological systems and nanostructures) are described by academics of international distinction.

This volume represents a collection of authoritative reviews by internationally recognized experts in the field of middle infrared (mid-IR) coherent sources and their applications. The compilation describes the fundamental principles and state-of-the-art of practical solid-state sources in the mid-IR regions of the spectrum covering the 2-50 m range. Coherent mid-IR sources also offer important technologies for atmospheric chemistry, free-space communication, imaging, rapid detection of explosives, chemical and biological agents, narcotics, as well as for applications in air- and sea-born security. In comparison to the previous volume on this subject in 2003, which focused mainly on the design and development of mid-IR sources, the emphasis in the present volume is shifted towards applications. The instructive nature of the book makes it an excellent text for practicing engineers, physicists and graduate students.

A description of general techniques for solving linear partial differential equations by dividing space into regions to which the equations are independently applied and then assembling a global solution from the partial ones. Intended for researchers and graduates involved in calculations of the electronic structure of materials, this will also be of interest to workers in quantum chemistry, electron microscopy, acoustics, optics, and other fields. The book begins with an intuitive approach to scattering theory and then turns to partial waves and a formal development of multiple scattering theory, with applications to the solid state. The authors then present a variational derivation of the formalism and an augmented version of the theory, concluding with a discussion of the relativistic formalism and a discussion of the Poisson equation. Appendices discuss Green's functions, spherical functions, Moller operators and the Lippmann-Schwinger equation, irregular solutions, and singularities in Green's functions.