Proceedings Of The Xii International Conference On Defects In Insulating Materials Schloss Nordkirchen Germany August 16 22 1992

The proceedings reflect the Twelfth International Conference on Defects in Insulating Materials, covering topics on point defects and extended defects including theory and computer simulation in various insulating materials, as well as applications in laser physics, imaging, data storage and radioactive waste disposal.

With this book, we wish to honor the lifework of K. Alex Müller and present him with this book on the occasion of his 94th birthday. We are convinced that he will very much enjoy reading it. We would like to thank all contributors to this book, who addressed topics complementary and related to his work. The articles of the book represent the efforts in solid state physics – spanning more than 60 years – which have been groundbreaking in scientific and applied sciences. Many of the current hot topics are derived from this earlier work which has pioneered the way toward new experimental tools and/or refined techniques. From this point of view, the book presents, on one hand, a historical review and, on the other hand, a directory of possible future research.

This book constitutes a comprehensive international forum on defect-related phenomena in wide-gap materials, crystalline or otherwise. Materials as diverse as SiO2, group-III nitride compounds, diamond, alkali halides, refractory oxides, and polymers are covered, and the defects considered include intrinsic point imperfections, dislocations, accidental impurities, intentional dopants, imperfect surfaces, nanocrystals in host matrices, and bonding defects in glasses.

The scope of the book is to give an overview of the history of astroparticle physics, starting with the discovery of cosmic rays (Victor Hess, 1912) and its background (X-ray, radioactivity). The book focusses on the ways in which physics changes in the course of this history. The following changes run parallel, overlap, and/or interact: - Discovery of effects like X-rays, radioactivity, cosmic rays, new particles but also progress through non-discoveries (monopoles) etc. - The change of the description of nature in physics, as consequence of new theoretical questions at the beginning of the 20th century, giving rise to quantum physics, relativity, etc. - The change of experimental methods, cooperations, disciplinary divisions. With regard to the latter change, a main topic of the book is to make the specific multi-diciplinary features of astroparticle physics clear.