Yuri S. Kivshar - Böcker

Metamaterials, artificial electromagnetic media achieved by structuring on the subwave-length-scale were initially suggested for the negative index and superlensing. They became a paradigm for engineering electromagnetic space and controlling propagation of waves. The research agenda is now shifting on achieving tuneable, switchable, nonlinear and sensing functionalities. The time has come to talk about the emerging research field of metadevices employing active and tunable metamaterials with unique functionalities achieved by structuring of functional matter on the subwave-length scale. This book presents the first systematic and comprehensive summary of the reviews written by the pioneers and top-class experts in the field of metamaterials. It addresses many grand challenges of the cutting edge research for creating smaller and more efficient photonic structures and devices.

Metamaterials, artificial electromagnetic media achieved by structuring on the subwave-length-scale were initially suggested for the negative index and superlensing. They became a paradigm for engineering electromagnetic space and controlling propagation of waves. The research agenda is now shifting on achieving tuneable, switchable, nonlinear and sensing functionalities. The time has come to talk about the emerging research field of metadevices employing active and tunable metamaterials with unique functionalities achieved by structuring of functional matter on the subwave-length scale. This book presents the first systematic and comprehensive summary of the reviews written by the pioneers and top-class experts in the field of metamaterials. It addresses many grand challenges of the cutting edge research for creating smaller and more efficient photonic structures and devices.

This book presents an overview of the basic concepts, methods and applications of nonlinear low-dimensional solid-state physics based on the Frenkel--Kontorova model and its generalizations. It allows a nonspecialist to acquire foundations in the interdisciplinary concepts and methods of both solid-state physics and nonlinear science. It covers many important topics such as the nonlinear dynamics of discrete systems, the dynamics of solitons and their interaction, commensurate and incommensurate systems, statistical mechanics of nonlinear systems, ratchets, and nonequilibrium dynamics of interacting many-body systems. Also treated are the principal nonlinear equations along with the properties of their localized solutions and methods for their analysis.

Optical information processing of the future is associated with a new generation of compact nanoscale optical devices operating entirely with light. Moreover, adaptive features such as self-guiding, reconfiguration and switching become more and more important. Nonlinear devices offer an enormous potential for these applications. Consequently, innovative concepts for all-optical communication and information technologies based on nonlinear effects in photonic-crystal physics and nanoscale devices as metamaterials are of high interest.This book focuses on nonlinear optical phenomena in periodic media, such as photonic crystals, optically-induced, adaptive lattices, atomic lattices or metamaterials. The main purpose is to describe and overview new physical phenomena that result from the interplay between nonlinearities and structural periodicities and is a guide to actual and future developments for the expert reader in optical information processing, as well as in the physics of cold atoms in optical lattices.

Theoretical physics deals with physical models. The main requirements for a good physical model are simplicity and universality. Universal models which can be applied to describe a variety of different phenomena are very rare in physics and, therefore, they are of key importance. Such models attract the special attention of researchers as they can be used to describe underlying physical concepts in a simple way. Such models appear again and again over the years and in various forms, thus extending their applicability and educa­ tional value. The simplest example of this kind is the model of a pendulum; this universal model serves as a paradigm which encompasses basic features of various physical systems, and appears in many problems of very different physical context. Solids are usually described by complex models with many degrees of freedom and, therefore, the corresponding microscopic equations are rather complicated. However, over the years a relatively simple model, known these days as the Prenkel-K ontorova model, has become one of the fundamental and universal tools of low-dimensional nonlinear physics; this model describes a chain of classical particles coupled to their neighbors and subjected to a pe­ riodic on-site potential.