Six years passed by since the NATO ASI on "Liquid and Amorphous Metals" was held in Zwiesel, Germany, in September 1979. The present one is the second NATO School devoted to research on disordered condensed matter, mainly liquid and amorphous metals. This time the title contains the word "materials" to explicitely include those aspects of the glassy state of insulators either shared with metallic glasses - e.g. the glass tran sition - or on the border line with metallic systems - e.g. the metal non-metal transition. The long period which purposely elapsed between the two Institutes indi cates the intention not to have "just another conference," but to review the state of affairs in the field with a somewhat more durable scope. This is especially important to help basic research to bridge towards applica tions and to introduce young researchers in this field. In fact, while the understanding of these materials and their properties is a tremendous challenge for experimental and theoretical physicists, glassy substances offer an enormous potential in-the development of new materials for tech nical applications. To this end, the Institute has brought together insiders and peers from allover the world to discuss basic principles and latest results and to help correlate future research effort. Another important aim was to intro duce newcomers to the field."

Six years passed by since the NATO ASI on "Liquid and Amorphous Metals" was held in Zwiesel, Germany, in September 1979. The present one is the second NATO School devoted to research on disordered condensed matter, mainly liquid and amorphous metals. This time the title contains the word "materials" to explicitely include those aspects of the glassy state of insulators either shared with metallic glasses - e.g. the glass tran sition - or on the border line with metallic systems - e.g. the metal non-metal transition. The long period which purposely elapsed between the two Institutes indi cates the intention not to have "just another conference," but to review the state of affairs in the field with a somewhat more durable scope. This is especially important to help basic research to bridge towards applica tions and to introduce young researchers in this field. In fact, while the understanding of these materials and their properties is a tremendous challenge for experimental and theoretical physicists, glassy substances offer an enormous potential in-the development of new materials for tech nical applications. To this end, the Institute has brought together insiders and peers from allover the world to discuss basic principles and latest results and to help correlate future research effort. Another important aim was to intro duce newcomers to the field."

VI The idea to hold such a meeting in Germany for the first time was due to Prof. H. Pelzl. Its realization was greatly supported by financial help of the Stiftung Volkswagenwerk and the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft, which is gratefully acknowledged. The Editors VII Contents 1. Basic Principles Photoacoustic Effect in Condensed Matter - Historical Development E. LUscher 1 Opto-Acoustic Spectroscopy - A Tool for the Study of Optical Spectra of very Transparent Materials 21 C. K. N. Patel Thermodynamic r ode 1 s of the Photoacousti c Effect P. Korpiun 40 Frequency Dependent Photoacous tic Spectroscopy of Condensed t latter J. Pelzl 52 Photoacoustic Spectroscopies D. Fournier and A. C. Boccara so Comparison Between Photoacoustic and Other Spectroscopies 94 R. Til gner Generation of Acoustic Waves in Liquids by Pulsed Lasers lOS H. W. Sigrist Piezoelectric Detection in Photoacoustic Spectroscopy. Theory and Application 115 H. D. Breuer Photothermal Radiometry P. -E. Nordal and S. O. Kanstad 129 Contents VIII 2. Spectroscopic Applications Applications of Resonant Photoacoustic Spectroscopy 139 J. Roper, K. Frank, and P. Hess Photoacoustic Fourier Transform Spectroscopy for the Visible and the Near Infrared D. uebarre, A. C. Boccara and D. Fournier 147 Photoacoustic Spectra of Biliverdin Dimethyl Ester S. E. Braslavsky, R. Ellul, S. Culshaw, I. -M. Tegmo-larsson, and K. Schaffner 154 Quantitative Photoacoustic Spectroscopy of Phenolred Potassium Salt in Polyvinalalcohol W. Gortz and H. -H. Perkampus 163 In Situ Photoacoustic Spectroscopy of Copper Electrodes in Solution U. Sander, J. K. Dohrmann, and H. -H."