A study of radiative-collisional phenomena in neutral and ionized gases, focusing on a ‘perturbed atom’, i.e an atom under the influence of different perturbations in plasmas, namely by electrical and magnetic fields. The treatment covers fundamental aspects of modern physics, such as atomic quantum mechanics and quantum optics, radiation and collisional processes in plasmas and gases, nonlinear laser spectroscopy, and plasma diagnostics.
Initially a subfield of solid state physics, the study of mesoscopic systems has evolved over the years into a vast field of research in its own right. Keeping track its rapid progress, this book provides a broad survey of the latest developments in the field. The focus is on statistics and dynamics of mesoscopic systems with special emphasis on topics like quantum chaos, localization, noise and fluctuations, mesoscopic optics and quantum transport in nanostructures. Written with nonspecialists in mind, this book will also be useful to graduate students wishing to familiarize themselves with this field of research.
Clouds affect the climate of the Earth, and they are an important factor in the weather. Therefore, their radiative properties must be understood in great detail. This book summarizes current knowledge on cloud optical properties, for example their ability to absorb, transmit, and reflect light, which depends on the clouds geometrical and microphysical characteristics such as sizes of droplets and crystals, their shapes, and structures. In addition, problems related to the image transfer through clouds and cloud remote sensing are addressed in this book in great detail.
This monograph presents recent developments in quantum field theory at finite temperature. By using Lie groups, ideas from thermal theory are considered with concepts of symmetry, allowing for applications not only to quantum field theory but also to transport theory, quantum optics and statistical mechanics. This includes an analysis of geometrical and topological aspects of spatially confined systems with applications to the Casimir effect, superconductivity and phase transitions. Finally, some developments in open systems are also considered. The book provides a unified picture of the fundamental aspects in thermal quantum field theory and their applications, and is important to the field as a result, since it combines several diverse ideas that lead to a better understanding of different areas of physics.
This book concentrates on the various fields related to the development of a nanobiosensor and presents the latest information from renowned experts. It focuses on the enhanced spectroscopy, including SERS, SEIRA/SEIRS, and near-field optics, and the related physical processes (optical properties of metallic nanoparticles, plasmon resonance, field enhancement, etc.). Some applications in the biological and medical field are presented to show the potential of such techniques as sensors if combined with functionalization.
John Crisp’s Introduction to Fiber Optics is well established as an introductory text for engineers, managers and students. It meets the needs of systems designers, installation engineers, electronic engineers and anyone else who wants to gain a working knowledge of fiber optics with a minimum of maths. Review questions are included within the text to enable the reader to check their understanding as they work through the book.
This volume explores the creation, study, and processing of new liquid-crystalline polymers. It covers not only the chemistry of liquid-crystalline polymers, but also the physics and engineering aspects of these materials. A wide range of topics is covered, including syntheses of main-chain and side-chain LCPs, structural characterization of LP, rheology and processing, and applications such a electro-optics and ‘self-reinforcing’ blends. This book presents a broad view of the direction of LCP research in both industry and academe.
In the thirty-seven years that have gone by since the first volume of Progress in Optics was published, optics has become one of the most dynamic fields of science. At the time of inception of this series, the first lasers were only just becoming operational, holography was in its infancy, subjects such as fiber optics, integrated optics and optoelectronics did not exist and quantum optics was the domain of only a few physicists. The term photonics had not yet been coined. Today these fields are flourishing and have become areas of specialisation for many science and engineering students and numerous research workers and engineers throughout the world. Some of the advances in these fields have been recognized by awarding Nobel prizes to seven physicists in the last twenty years. The volumes in this series which have appeared up to now contain nearly 190 review articles by distinguished research workers, which have become permanent records for many important developments. They have helped optical scientists and optical engineers to stay abreast of their fields. There is no sign that developments in optics are slowing down or becoming less interesting.
