Nonlinear Waves In Solid State Physics

This book is based on the contributions to the 17th International School of Materials Sci ence and Technology, entitled Nonlinear Waves in Solid State Physics. This was held as a NATO Advanced Study Institute at the Ettore Majorana Centre in Erice, Sicily between the st th 1 and 15 July 1989, and attracted almost 100 participants from over 20 different countries. The book covers the fundamental properties of nonlinear waves in solid state materials, dealing with both theory and experiment. The aim is to emphasise the methods underpinning the important new developments in this area. The material is organised into subject areas that can broadly be classified into the following groups: the theory of nonlinear surface and guided waves in self-focusing magnetic and non-magnetic materials; nonlinear effects at in terfaces; nonlinear acoustoelectronic and surface acoustic waves; Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations of nonlinear problems; nonlinear effects in optical fibres; resonance phenomena; and nonlinear integrated optics. The chapters have been grouped together according to these classifications as closely as possible, but it should be borne in mind that although there is much overlap of ideas, each chapter is essentially independent of the others. We would like to acknowledge the sponsorship of the NATO Scientific Affairs Division, the European Physical Society, the National Science Foundation of the USA, the European Research Office, the Italian Ministry of Education, the Italian Ministry of Scientific and Technological Research, the Sicilian Regional Government and the Ugo Bordoni Foundation.

A non-linear wave is one of the fundamental objects of nature. They are inherent to aerodynamics and hydrodynamics, solid state physics and plasma physics, optics and field theory, chemistry reaction kinetics and population dynamics, nuclear physics and gravity. All non-linear waves can be divided into two parts: dispersive waves and dissipative ones. The history of investigation of these waves has been lasting about two centuries. In 1834 J. S. Russell discovered the extraordinary type of waves without the dispersive broadening. In 1965 N. J. Zabusky and M. D. Kruskal found that the Korteweg-de Vries equation has solutions of the solitary wave form. This solitary wave demonstrates the particle-like properties, i. e. , stability under propagation and the elastic interaction under collision of the solitary waves. These waves were named solitons. In succeeding years there has been a great deal of progress in understanding of soliton nature. Now solitons have become the primary components in many important problems of nonlinear wave dynamics. It should be noted that non-linear optics is the field, where all soliton features are exhibited to a great extent. This book had been designed as the tutorial to the theory of non-linear waves in optics. The first version was projected as the book covering all the problems in this field, both analytical and numerical methods, and results as well. However, it became evident in the process of work that this was not a real task.

Travelling wave processes and wave motion are of great importance in many areas of mechanics, and nonlinearity also plays a decisive role there. The basic mathematical models in this area involve nonlinear partial differential equations, and predictability of behaviour of wave phenomena is of great importance. Beside fluid dynamics and gas dynamics, which have long been the traditional nonlinear scienes, solid mechanics is now taking an ever increasing account of nonlinear effects. Apart from plasticity and fracture mechanics, nonlinear elastic waves have been shown to be of great importance in many areas, such as the study of impact, nondestructive testing and seismology. These lectures offer a thorough account of the fundamental theory of nonlinear deformation waves, and in the process offer an up to date account of the current state of research in the theory and practice of nonlinear waves in solids.

This monograph is devoted to problems of propagation and stability of linear and nonlinear waves in continuous media with complex structure. It considers the different media, such as solid with cavities, preliminary deformed disperse medium, solid with porosity filled by the electrically conductive and non-conductive liquid, magnetoelastic, piezo-semiconductors, crystals with dislocations, composites with inclusions, an electrically conductive asymmetrical liquid, a mixture of gas with a drop liquid. The book also considers the propagation of a laser beam through a two-level medium. The presented results are based on methods of evolution and modulation equations that were developed by the authors. The book is intended for scientific and technical researchers, students and post-graduate students specializing in mechanics of continuous media, physical acoustics, and physics of the solid state.

In recent years the physics of electromagnetic surface phenomena has developed rapidly, evolving into technologies for communications and industry, such as fiber and integrated optics. The variety of phenomena based on electromagnetism at surfaces is rich and this book was written with the aim of summarizing the available knowledge in selected areas of the field. The book contains reviews written by solid state and optical physicists on the nonlinear interaction of electromagnetic waves at and with surfaces and films. Both the physical phenomena and some potential applications are dealt with. Included are discussions of nonlinear wave mixing on films and surfaces, second harmonic generation in waveguides and at surfaces, nonlinear waves guided by dielectric and semiconductor surfaces and films, surface gratings formed by high energy laser beams, and reflection and transmission switching of strong beams onto nonlinear surfaces. Chapters on light scattering from surface excitations and magnetic order-disorder and orientational phase transitions complete this essential contribution to the modern optics literature.

Solid state physics is the branch of physics primarily devoted to the study of matter in its solid phase, especially at the atomic level. This prestigious serial presents timely and state-of-the-art reviews pertaining to all aspects of solid state physics.

The present book introduces and develops mathematical techniques for the treatment of nonlinear waves and singular perturbation methods at a level that is suitable for graduate students, researchers and faculty throughout the natural sciences and engineering. The practice of implementing these techniques and their value are largely realized by showing their application to problems of nonlinear wave phenomena in electronic transport in solid state materials, especially bulk semiconductors and semiconductor superlattices. The authors are recognized leaders in this field, with more than 30 combined years of contributions.