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Outlines the principles of thermoelectric generation and refrigeration from the discovery of the Seebeck and Peltier effects in the nineteenth century through the introduction of semiconductor thermoelements in the mid-twentieth century to the more recent development of nanostructured materials. The book is aimed at readers who do not have a specialised knowledge of solid state physics.

Reviews the optical properties of various semiconductors in the infrared range of wavelengths. Theoretical and experimental studies of the radiative properties of semiconductors are presented. Previous studies, potential applications and future developments are also outlined.

As a way of introduction to all-optical switching in semiconductor waveguides, this book covers the electro-optic effect, electroabsorption and electrorefraction; effects that can be used in semiconductor optical modulation devices. But the book focuses on all-optical switching using second and third order optical nonlinearities in AlGaAs optical waveguides.

Teaches basic digital design concepts and then applies them through exercises; implements these digital designs by teaching the user the syntax of the Verilog language while implementing the exercises; and employs contemporary digital hardware to build a simple calculator, a basic music player, and a frequency and period counter.

The concept of reciprocal space is over 100 years old, and has been of particular use by crystallographers in order to understand the patterns of spots when x-rays are diffracted by crystals. In this book, the author starts with the crystallographer's point of view of real and reciprocal space and then proceeds to develop this in a form suitable for physics applications.

Presents an overview of the concepts, methods, and theories of astrobiology and origins of life research while presenting a summary of the latest findings. The book provides insight into the environments and processes that gave birth to life on our planet, which naturally informs our assessment of the probability that it has arisen (or will arise) elsewhere.

A short primer on chemical reaction rates based on a six-lecture first-year undergraduate course taught by the author at the University of Oxford. The book explores the various factors that determine how fast or slowly a chemical reaction proceeds and describes a variety of experimental methods for measuring reaction rates.

Quantum theory is one of the most successful of all physical theories. Our everyday world is dominated by devices that function because of knowledge of the quantum world. Yet many, physicists and non-physicists alike, find the theory which explains the beh

Describes the physics of particle behaviour in the design, construction, and operation of light sources and colliders. Starting with an outline of the history, uses, and structure of electron storage rings, the book develops the foundations of beam dynamicss. The aim is to emphasize the physics behind key phenomena.

Examines the lives and contributions of American women physicists who were active in the years following World War II, during the middle decades of the 20th century. It discusses to major classes of women physicists; those who worked on military projects, and those who worked in industrial laboratories and at universities largely in the late 1940s and 1950s.

Looks at what planetary nebulae are, where they come from and where they go. The book discusses what mechanisms cause these beautiful markers of stellar demise as well as what causes them to form their variety of shapes. How we measure various aspects of planetary nebulae are also be explored.

Scattering of light by light is a fundamental process arising at the quantum level through vacuum fluctuations. This book will explain how this quantum process can entirely be described in terms classical quantities. This description is derived from general principles, such as causality, unitarity, Lorentz, and gauge symmetries.

B Factories are particle colliders at which specific subatomic particles - B mesons - are produced abundantly. This book studies the properties of their decays in detail in order to shed light on a mystery of eminently larger scale: why do we live in a universe composed of anti-matter?

This is the first book written on using Blender (an open-source visualization suite widely used in the entertainment and gaming industries) for scientific visualization. It is a practical and interesting introduction to Blender for understanding key parts

This book provides a broad introductory survey of this remarkable field, aiming to establish and clearly differentiate its physical principles, and also to provide a snapshot portrait of many of the most prominent current applications. Primary emphasis is placed on developing an understanding of the fundamental photonic origin behind the mechanism that operates in each type of effect. To this end, the first few chapters introduce and develop core theory, focusing on the physical significance and source of the most salient parameters, and revealing the detailed interplay between the key material and optical properties. Where appropriate, both classical and photonic (quantum mechanical) representations are discussed. The number of equations is purposely kept to a minimum, and only a broad background in optical physics is assumed.With copious examples and illustrations, each of the subsequent chapters then sets out to explain and exhibit the main features and uses of the various distinct types of mechanism that can be involved in optical nanomanipulation, including some of the very latest developments. To complete the scene, we also briefly discuss applications to larger, biological particles. Overall, this book aims to deliver to the non-specialist an amenable introduction to the technically more advanced literature on individual manipulation methods. Full references to the original research papers are given throughout, and an up-to-date bibliography is provided for each chapter, which directs the reader to other selected, more specialised sources.

This book is both an introduction and a demonstration of how Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) can greatly enhance Microsoft Excel(R) by giving users the ability to create their own functions within a worksheet and to create subroutines to perform repetitive actions. The book is written so readers are encouraged to experiment with VBA programming with examples using fairly simple physics or non-complicated mathematics such as root finding and numerical integration. Tested Excel(R) workbooks are available for each chapter and there is nothing to buy or install.

The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) has been the principal legal barrier to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons for the past forty-five years. However, many people are concerned about the continued viability of the NPT. This manuscript explores its viability and offers some possible solutions to ensure that the NPT will survive effectively for many years to come.

Janus, the ancient Roman god depicted with two faces is an appropriate metaphor for light therapy. In the right photodynamic therapy conditions, light is able to kill nearly anything that is living. On the opposite face, light of the correct wavelength and proper dose can heal, regenerate, protect, revitalize and restore. This book discusses both sides of Janus' face in regards to light therapy.

Examines smart nanocarriers that respond to internal stimuli that are intrinsic to the target site. These stimuli are specific to the cell type, tissue or organ type, or to the disease state. pH-responsive nanostructures can be used for cargo release in acidic endosomal compartments, in the lower pH of tumors, and for specific oral delivery either to the stomach or intestine.

The concept of smart drug delivery vehicles involves designing and preparing a nanostructure (or microstructure) that can be loaded with a cargo, this can be a therapeutic drug, a contrast agent for imaging, or a nucleic acid for gene therapy. This volume covers smart nanocarriers that respond to externally applied stimuli that usually involve application of physical energy.

In the past few decades, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has become an indispensable tool in modern medicine, with MRI systems now available at every major hospital in the developed world. But for all its utility and prevalence, it is much less commonly understood and less readily explained than other common medical imaging techniques. Unlike optical, ultrasonic, X-ray (including CT), and nuclear medicine-based imaging, MRI does not rely primarily on simple transmission and/or reflection of energy, and the highest achievable resolution in MRI is orders of magnitude smaller that the smallest wavelength involved. In this book, MRI will be explained with emphasis on the magnetic fields required, their generation, their concomitant electric fields, the various interactions of all these fields with the subject being imaged, and the implications of these interactions to image quality and patient safety. Classical electromagnetics will be used to describe aspects from the fundamental phenomenon of nuclear precession through signal detection and MRI safety. Simple explanations and Illustrations combined with pertinent equations are designed to help the reader rapidly gain a fundamental understanding and an appreciation of this technology as it is used today, as well as ongoing advances that will increase its value in the future. Numerous references are included to facilitate further study with an emphasis on areas most directly related to electromagnetics.

This book provides a general description of the search for and discovery of the Higgs boson (particle) at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. The goal is to provide a relatively brief overview of the issues, instruments and techniques relevant for this search; written by a physicist who was directly involved. The Higgs boson mat be the one particle that was studied the most before its discovery and the story from postulation in 1964 to detection in 2012 is a fascinating one. The story is told here while detailing the fundamentals of particle physics.

This book is a concise introduction to the key concepts of classical field theory for beginning graduate students and advanced undergraduate students who wish to study the unifying structures and physical insights provided by classical field theory without dealing with the additional complication of quantization. In that regard, there are many important aspects of field theory that can be understood without quantizing the fields. These include the action formulation, Galilean and relativistic invariance, traveling and standing waves, spin angular momentum, gauge invariance, subsidiary conditions, fluctuations, spinor and vector fields, conservation laws and symmetries, and the Higgs mechanism, all of which are often treated briefly in a course on quantum field theory.

Highlights the application of Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) for high-resolution surface analysis and characterization of materials. While providing a brief overview of the principles of SIMS, it also provides examples of how dual-beam ToF-SIMS is used to investigate a range of materials systems and properties.

Dyadic Green functions are commonplace in electromagnetics, because both the input and the output are vector functions of space and time. This book provides a survey of the state-of-the-art knowledge of infinite space dyadic Green functions.

Waves are everywhere in our daily life. We all experience sound and light with our ears and eyes, we use microwaves to cook, and radio waves are transmitted from and are received by our cell phones. These are just some examples of waves that carry energy from point A to B. However, we may not know details of the physics underlying all these waves. It is important to understand the mechanisms that generate wave dynamics for a given system. It is not straightforward to explain how an electromagnetic ield becomes oscillatory and propagates as a wave. Waves sometimes represent the underlying dynamics of observed phenomena at a fundamental level of physics.This book is designed to explore these mechanisms by discussing various aspects of wave dynamics from as many perspectives as possible. The target audiences are undergraduate students majoring in engineering science and graduate students majoring in general engineering. Going beyond the typical approach to learning science, this book discusses wave dynamics and related concepts at various levels of mathematics and physics, sometimes touching on profound physics behind them. This book was written to help readers learn wave dynamics on a deep physical level, and develop innovative ideas in their own fields.