The Tohoku earthquake on March 11, 2011, officially designated the "Off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku, Japan Earthquake" by the Japan Meteorological Agency caused an unprecedentedly severe disaster in the northeastern part (Tohoku) of the Japanese island of Honshu. This first volume of the series Natural Disaster Science and Mitigation Engineering: DPRI Reports covers various aspects of investigations of scientific findings as well as issues related to the disaster and the subsequent evacuation necessitated by the earthquake. The series presents recent advances in natural disaster sciences and mitigation technologies developed in Japan, which will be valuable for the mitigation of disasters of a similar kind resulting from future events around the world.

Oxide materials are emerging as potential candidates for a variety of existing and new optoelectronic and microwave applications. Critical to enabling this development is the need to have high-quality materials and to be able to construct viable heterostructures. The existence of improved metal oxide films has enabled a deeper understanding of both the oxides' intrinsic properties and their potential application in real world electronics. Because of their special properties or combinations thereof, oxide films are leading to new classes of devices as well as potentially replacing common semiconductor devices. This book focuses on the materials growth, characterization, processing, and application of oxide films employed as the active elements in devices. A new understanding of basic materials properties is currently being combined with the development of novel heterostructures to lead to whole new classes of devices potentially affecting everything from energy conversion to computer memory. Topics include: applications; new ideas and magnetism; ferroelectrics and related materials; transparent conductors; and film deposition methods.