There is no doubt that we have, during the last decade, moved into a "golden age" of condensed matter science. The sequence of discoveries of novel new states of matter and their rapid assimilation into experimental and theoretical research, as well as devices, has been remarkable. To name but a few: spin glasses; incommensurate, fractal, quasicrystal structures; synthetic metals; quantum well fabrication; fractional quantum Hall effect: solid state chaos; heavy fermions; and most spectacularly high-temperature superconductivity.

This textbook provides a didactic introduction to the topic of group theory in physics, with a special focus on solid state physics issues. The book is useful for students who encounter such problems in their first scientific work (in theory or experiment). In addition to the basic introduction to group theory and representation theory, the book deals with point groups, double point groups, and space groups, which are essential in solid state physics. As an example for systems with space group symmetry, electrons in periodic potentials are discussed.

In 1879, while a graduate student under Henry Rowland at the Physics Department of The Johns Hopkins University, Edwin Herbert Hall discovered what is now universally known as the Hall effect. A symposium was held at The Johns Hopkins University on November 13, 1979 to commemorate the lOOth anniversary of the discovery. Over 170 participants attended the symposium which included eleven in­ vited lectures and three speeches during the luncheon. During the past one hundred years, we have witnessed ever ex­ panding activities in the field of the Hall effect. The Hall effect is now an indispensable tool in the studies of many branches of condensed matter physics, especially in metals, semiconductors, and magnetic solids. Various components (over 200 million!) that utilize the Hall effect have been successfully incorporated into such devices as keyboards, automobile ignitions, gaussmeters, and satellites. This volume attempts to capture the important aspects of the Hall effect and its applications. It includes the papers presented at the symposium and eleven other invited papers. Detailed coverage of the Hall effect in amorphous and crystalline metals and alloys, in magnetic materials, in liquid metals, and in semiconductors is provided. Applications of the Hall effect in space technology and in studies of the aurora enrich the discussions of the Hall effect's utility in sensors and switches. The design and packaging of Hall elements in integrated circuit forms are illustrated.

Simulation of materials at the atomistic level is an important tool in studying microscopic structures and processes. The atomic interactions necessary for the simulations are correctly described by Quantum Mechanics, but the size of systems and the length of processes that can be modelled are still limited. The framework of Gaussian Approximation Potentials that is developed in this thesis allows us to generate interatomic potentials automatically, based on quantum mechanical data. The resulting potentials offer several orders of magnitude faster computations, while maintaining quantum mechanical accuracy. The method has already been successfully applied for semiconductors and metals.

This new edition of the well-received introduction to solid-state physics provides a comprehensive overview of the basic theoretical and experimental concepts of materials science. Experimental aspects and laboratory details are highlighted in separate panels that enrich text and emphasize recent developments.

Electron magnetic resonance in the time domain has been greatly facilitated by the introduction of novel resonance structures and better computational tools, such as the increasingly widespread use of density-matrix formalism. This second v- ume in our series, devoted both to instrumentation and computation, addresses - plications and advances in the analysis of spin relaxation time measurements. Chapters 1 deals with the important problem of measuring spin relaxation times over a broad temporal range.

This introduction to Atomic and Molecular Physics explains how our present model of atoms and molecules has been developed during the last two centuries by many experimental discoveries and from the theoretical side by the introduction of quantum physics to the adequate description of micro-particles. It illustrates the wave model of particles by many examples and shows the limits of classical description. The interaction of electromagnetic radiation with atoms and molecules and its potential for spectroscopy is outlined in more detail and in particular lasers as modern spectroscopic tools are discussed more thoroughly. Many examples and problems with solutions should induce the reader to an intense active cooperation.

Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) was developed in order to char­ acterize the dynamics of molecular processes in systems in thermodynamic equilibrium. FCS determines transport and chemical reaction rates from mea­ surements of spontaneous microscopic thermally driven molecular concentra­ tion fluctuations. Since its inception, and particularly in recent years, techni­ cal and conceptual advances have extended the range of practical applicability and the information obtainable from FCS measurements.

This textbook is for a course in advanced solid-state theory. It is aimed at graduate students in their third or fourth year of study who wish to learn the advanced techniques of solid-state theoretical physics. The method of Green's functions is introduced at the beginning and used throughout. Indeed, it could be considered a book on practical applications of Green's functions, although I prefer to call it a book on physics. The method of Green's functions has been used by many theorists to derive equations which, when solved, provide an accurate numerical description of many processes in solids and quantum fluids. In this book I attempt to summarize many of these theories in order to show how Green's functions are used to solve real problems. My goal, in writing each section, is to describe calculations which can be compared with experiments and to provide these comparisons whenever available. The student is expected to have a background in quantum mechanics at the level acquired from a graduate course using the textbook by either L. I. Schiff, A. S. Davydov, or I. Landau and E. M. Lifshiftz. Similarly, a prior course in solid-state physics is expected, since the reader is assumed to know concepts such as Brillouin zones and energy band theory. Each chapter has problems which are an important part of the lesson; the problems often provide physical insights which are not in the text. Sometimes the answers to the problems are provided, but usually not.

Mathematics is the language of the physical sciences and is essential for a clear understanding of fundamental scientific concepts. The fortuna te fact that the same mathematical ideas appear in a number of distinct scientific areas prompted the format for this book. The mathematical framework for matrices and vectors with emphasis on eigenvalue-eigenvector concepts is introduced and applied to a number of distinct scientific areas. Each· new application then reinforces the applications which preceded it.

This thesis presents a systematic discussion of experimental approaches to investigating the nonlinear interaction of ultrashort visible strong fields with dielectrics directly in the time domain. The key finding is the distinctly different peak-intensity dependence of the light-matter energy transfer dynamics on the one hand, and the observed transient optical and electronic modifications on the other. As the induced electron dynamics evolve on sub-femtosecond timescales, real-time spectroscopy requires attosecond temporal resolution. This allows a range of parameters to be identified where the optical properties of the samples exposed to ultrashort light fields suffer dramatic changes allowing signal metrology while real absorption leading to dissipation is essentially absent. These findings indicate the feasibility of efficient optical switching at frequencies several orders of magnitude faster than current state-of-the-art electronics and thus have far-reaching technological consequences.

Quantum Optics gives a comprehensive coverage of developments in quantum optics over the past twenty years. In the early chapters the formalism of quantum optics is elucidated and the main techniques are introduced. These are applied in the later chapters to problems such as squeezed states of light, resonance fluorescence, laser theory, quantum theory of four-wave mixing, quantum non-demolition measurements, Bell's inequalities, and atom optics. Experimental results are used to illustrate the theory throughout. This yields the most comprehensive and up-to-date coverage of experiment and theory in quantum optics in any textbook.

Physics practical classes form an important part of many scientific and technical courses in higher education. In addition to the older standard experiments, such practicals now generally include a few computer-controlled experiments developed in association with the research groups active in the particular university or college. Since there is relatively little exchange of information between the teaching staff of different institutes, the personal computer, despite its ubiquity, is underexploited in this role as a teaching aid. The present book provides a detailed description of a number of computer-controlled experiments suitable for practical classes. Both the relevant physics and the computational techniques are presented in a form that enables the readers to construct and/or perform the experiment themselves.

The authors describe the electric, magnetic and other relaxational processes in a wide spectrum of materials: liquid crystals, molecular magnets, polymers, high-Tc superconductors and glasses. The book summarizes the phenomenological fundamentals and the experimental methods used. A detailed description of molecular and collective dynamics in the broad range of liquid crystals is presented. Magnetic systems, high-Tc superconductors, polymers and glasses are an important subject of matter. It is shown that the researchers working on relaxation processes in different fields of materials sciences are dealing with the same physical fundamentals, but are sometimes using slightly different terms. The book is addressed to scientists, engineers, graduate and undergraduate students, experimentalists and theorists in physics, chemistry, materials sciences and electronic engineering. Many internationally well known experts contribute to it.

The Springer Handbook of Lasers and Optics provides fast, up-to-date, comprehensive and authoritative coverage of the wide fields of optics and lasers. It is written for daily use in the office or laboratory and offers explanatory text, data, and references needed for anyone working with lasers and optical instruments.