Ross C. McPhedran – författare

The IUTAM Symposium on Mechanical and Electromagnetic Waves in Structured Media took place at the University of Sydney from January 18- 22, 1999. It brought together leading researchers from eleven countries for a week-long meeting, with the aim of providing cross-links between the com- nities studying related problems involving elastic and electromagnetic waves in structured materials. After the meeting, participants were invited to submit articles based on their presentations, which were refereed and assembled to constitute these Proceedings. The topics covered here represent areas at the forefront of research intoelastic and electromagnetic waves. They include effect of nonlinearity, diffusion and multiple scattering on waves, as well as asymptotic and numerical techniques. Composite materials are discussed in depth, with example systems ranging fromdusty plasmas to a magneto-elastic microstructured system. Also included are studies of homogenisation, that field which seeks to determine equivalent homogeneous systems which can give equivalent wave properties to structured materials, and inverse problems, in which waves are used as a probe to infer structural details concerning scattering systems. There are also strong groups of papers on the localization of waves by random systems, and photonic and phononic band gap materials. These are being developed by analogue with semiconductors for electrons, and hold out the promise of enabling designers to control the propagation of waves through materials in novel ways. We would like to thank the other members of the Scientific Committee (A.

This work provides an alternative perspective on mechanical and electromagnetic waves in structured materials. Experts from both fields present up-to-date developments in theory and applications, and emphasize fundamental concepts, which unify wave science. The book is pitched at a level suitable for research students and those coming from other fields, who wish to learn about topics at the forefront of research into control and properties of waves in structured media. Particular areas discussed in depth include materials exhibiting band gaps for optical and mechanical waves, localization and homogenization, composite materials, and fundamental wave properties such as group and energy velocities in the presence of strong scattering. The papers in this book arise from a Symposium held at the University of Sydney in January 1999.