Nanospectroscopy addresses the spectroscopy of very small objects down to single molecules or atoms, or high-resolution spectroscopy performed on regions much smaller than the wavelength of light, revealing their local optical, electronic and chemical properties. This work highlights modern examples where optical nanospectroscopy is exploited in photonics, optical sensing, medicine, or state-of-the-art applications in material, chemical and biological sciences. Examples include the use of nanospectroscopy in such varied fields as quantum emitters, dyes and two-dimensional materials, on solar cells, radiation imaging detectors, biosensors and sensors for explosives, in biomolecular and cancer detection, food science, and cultural heritage studies.

Born during the Great Depression, Mike Mahan was in many ways a very lucky boy. His parents, a barber and a beautician, owned their own shop and home, always providing ample food, clothing, and warmth. No Hill Too High for a Stepper is not, then, the usual story of economic or family struggle, but rather a celebration of life in Montevallo, Alabama, during the thirties, forties, and fifties. It paints excellent portraits of unusually supportive parents as well as of other family members and townspeople, creating a detailed sense of small-town life during this period. At the heart of this book is an absorbing depiction of an irrepressible child and adolescent who approached all of life with a great sense of wonder and who meant to live it to the fullest. Throughout the memoir, the reader comes to see the richness of this life and the pride with which Mahan remembers it.