Condensed Matter Physics / Materials

This book is devoted to the rapidly developing field of research on oxide thin-films and heterostructures. Recent advances in thin-film deposition and characterization techniques made possible the experimental realization of such heterostructures, where two or more complex oxides are combined with atomic-scale precision. Especially notable advances have been made over the past few years, driven by the discovery of fascinating new physical phenomena in oxide heterostructures. The fundamental science underlying these phenomena is rich and exciting and promises novel functionalities and device concepts. The book consists of a set of chapters on topics that represent some of the key innovations in the field over recent years. It starts from fundamentals that include two chapters discussing physics of strongly correlated electronic materials and magnetoelectric coupling in multiferroic materials. Part II of the book is devoted to the growth and characterization of oxide heterostructures and includes four chapters on these subjects comprising key experimental developments in advanced deposition and characterization techniques. Part III of the book addresses functional properties of oxide heterostructures, including two-dimensional electron gases at oxide interfaces, manganite multilayers, and thermoelectric phenomena. Part IV of the book is focused on existing and potential applications of oxide heterostructures, including high-k dielectric materials, ferroelectric field effect transistors (FeFET) and ferroelectric random access memories (FeRAM), and new concepts of oxide electronics. Overall, this book covers the core principles of oxide electronic materials, describes experimental approaches to fabricate and characterize oxide thin-films and heterostructures, demonstrates new functional properties of these materials, and provides an overview of novel applications, as well as the challenges and opportunities in the field.

Polymer nanocomposites with practically all the commercial polymer matrices have been synthesized and nano-scale filler dispersion has been achieved with varying degrees of success. The commercial polymer nanocomposites studied to a great extent are unfortunately non-biodegradable like polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene etc. To a small extent, these nanocomposites are reformed or recycled into other products after one life cycle, however, the properties of such recycled materials are very poor. Therefore, subject of bio-based nanocomposites and biodegradable nanocomposites has become topic of interest in the recent years and a number of suitable bio-based and biodegradable polymer matrices have been developed and their property enhancement have been reported after the incorporation of the inorganic filler materials. These systems include poly(lactic acid), poly(butyl succinate), alginate, cellulosic plastics, gelatine, starch, soy protein based polymers, plant oil based polymers, poly(hydroxyalkanoates), bio based epoxies, etc. Various inorganic filler systems like clay, spherical particles as well as nanotubes have been incorporated in these matrices. The various properties which have been enhanced include mechanical performance, thermal properties, gas diffusion resistance, flammability, rheological performance, biodegradation etc. Though the commercial applications of these bio-nanocomposites are in infancy, but these materials have a huge commercial potential. The book provides the description of the subject as a whole, from the basic introduction to the more specific systems and advancements. The use of such nanocomposites for packaging as well as for sensors has been depicted.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging of materials is a field of increasing importance. Applications range from fundamental science such as the characterisation of fluid transport in porous rocks, catalyst pellets, and hemodialysers to various fields of engineering for process optimisation and product and quality control, for example, of polymer materials, biomaterials, elastomers, and ceramics. While the results of NMR imaging are being appreciated in a growing community, the methods of imaging are far more diverse for materials applications than for medical imaging of humans. This book provides an introduction to NMR imaging of materials covering solid-state NMR spectroscopy, imaging methods for liquid and solid samples, and unusual NMR in terms of special approaches to spatial resolution like an NMR surface scanner. Special attention is paid to the large variety of ways to generate image contrast — the most prominent feature of NMR.

This book builds from basic principles to advanced techniques, and covers the major phenomena, methods, and results of time-dependent systems. The book treats time-dependent systems by close analogy with their static counterparts, with most of the familiar equilibrium results being generalised to the non-equilibrium case. The book is notable for its unified treatment of thermodynamics, hydrodynamics, stochastic processes, and statistical mechanics; for its coherent derivations of a variety of theorems; and for its quantitative tests against experimental measurements and computer simulations. Systems that evolve over time are more common than static systems, and yet until recently, they lacked any over-arching theory. This book provides a unified presentation of the theory of non-equilibrium systems, which has now reached the stage of quantitative experimental and computational verification. The novel perspective and deep understanding that this book brings offers the opportunity for new direction and growth in the study of time-dependent phenomena.

The book develops the modern theory of ferroelectricity in terms of soft modes and lattice dynamics and also describes modern techniques of measurement, including X-ray, optic, and neutron scattering, infrared absorption, and magnetic resonance. It includes a discussion of the related phenomena of antiferroelectricity, pyroelectricity, and ferroelasticity and seconds on domains, thin films, ceramics, and polymers, leading to a comprehensive survey of potential and actual device capabilities for pyroelectric detection, memories, display, and modulation. It provides an authoritative account for those engaged in research or graduate study of ferroelectric or pyroelectric devices.

This second edition of this book fully embraces the advances represented by the scanning tunnelling microscope and, especially, scanning tunnelling spectroscopy. The book includes images of single atoms and spectral images of impurity states in high temperature superconductors. The background and current status are provided for the applications of scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy, to single atoms and molecules, including the determination of bonding energies and vibrational frequencies. The adaptation of the McMillan–Rowell analysis, based on the Eliashberg theory of superconductivity, to include proximity electron tunnelling spectroscopy PETS, is described. The applications to high temperature superconductivity HTC of cuprate and iron-based materials are carefully introduced and the current status is described. A new section covers the astounding advances in instrumentation, which now routinely provide atomic resolution, and, in addition, developments in imaging and image processing, such as Fourier transform scanning tunneling spectroscopy.

The book, which is dedicated to Prof. Leonid V. Keldysh on his 75th anniversary, is a collection of review papers written by experts in condensed matter physics such as V. M. Agranovich, B. L. Altshuler, E. Burstein, V. L. Ginzburg, K. Von Klitzing, P. B. Littlewood, M. Pepper, A. Pinczuk, L. P. Pitaevskii, E. I. Rashba, T. M. Rice, etc. This is a guide-book of modern condensed matter physics, where the most important and hot topics of the field are reviewed. Topics covered include spintronics and quantum computation, Bose-Einstein condensation of excitons and the excitonic insulator, electron-hole liquid, metal-dielectric transition, coherent optical phenomena in semiconductor nanostructures, composite fermions and the quantum Hall effect, semiconductor and organic quantum wells, microcavities and other nanostructures, disordered systems in condensed matter, many-body theory and the Keldysh diagram technique, resonant acousto-optics, and inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy.

This book provides an introduction to quantum cascade lasers, including the basic underlying models used to describe the devices. It aims at giving a synthetic view of the topic including the aspects of the physics, the technology, and the use of the device. It should also provide a guide for the application engineer to use this device in systems. The book is based on lecture notes of a class given for Masters and beginning PhD students. The idea is to provide an introduction to the new and exciting developments that intersubband transitions have brought to the use of the mid-infrared and terahertz region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The book provides an introductory part to each topic so that it can be used in a self-contained way, while references to the literature will allow deeper studies for further research.

The book presents the wide range of topics in two-dimensional physics of quantum Hall systems, especially fractional quantum Hall states. It starts with the fundamental problems of quantum statistics in two dimensions and the corresponding braid group formalism. The braid group formalism of anyons (previously known) is developed for composite fermions. The effective formalism used in many-body quantum Hall theories — the Chern–Simons theory is also presented. The Chern–Simons theory of anyons (particles obeying fractional statistics) and composite fermions (related to Hall systems) is given, in detail. Numerical studies, which play the important role in quantum Hall analyses, are presented for spherical systems (Haldane sphere). The composite fermion theory is tested in numerical studies. The concept of the hierarchy of condensed states of composite fermion excitations is introduced (in analogy to the Haldane hierarchy). The hierarchies of odd-denominator states and even-denominator states are presented. The BCS paired Hall state is also discussed. An introduction to multi-component quantum Hall systems and spin quantum Hall systems is sketched.

Starting from first principles, this book introduces the closely related phenomena of Bose condensation and Cooper pairing, in which a very large number of single particles or pairs of particles are forced to behave in exactly the same way. Their consequences in condensed matter systems are also explored. Eschewing advanced formal methods, the book uses simple concepts and arguments to account for the various qualitatively new phenomena which occur in Bose-condensed and Cooper-paired systems, including but not limited to the spectacular macroscopic phenomena of superconductivity and superfluidity. The physical systems discussed include liquid 4-He, the BEC alkali gases, “classical” superconductors, superfluid 3-He, “exotic” superconductors, and the recently stabilized Fermi alkali gases.