Journal•ISSN: 0010-7514
Contemporary Physics
Taylor & Francis
About: Contemporary Physics is an academic journal published by Taylor & Francis. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Scope (project management) & Electron. It has an ISSN identifier of 0010-7514. Over the lifetime, 2028 publications have been published receiving 52639 citations.
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TL;DR: Some of the empirical evidence for the existence of power-law forms and the theories proposed to explain them are reviewed.
Abstract: When the probability of measuring a particular value of some quantity varies inversely as a power of that value, the quantity is said to follow a power law, also known variously as Zipf's law or the Pareto distribution. Power laws appear widely in physics, biology, earth and planetary sciences, economics and finance, computer science, demography and the social sciences. For instance, the distributions of the sizes of cities, earthquakes, forest fires, solar flares, moon craters and people's personal fortunes all appear to follow power laws. The origin of power-law behaviour has been a topic of debate in the scientific community for more than a century. Here we review some of the empirical evidence for the existence of power-law forms and the theories proposed to explain them.
4,734 citations
TL;DR: The glass-forming tendency of a given material is determined principally by a set of factors which can be specified to some extent in the laboratory, namely, the cooling rate, - T, the liquid volume, v], and the seed density, ps and depending upon the materials constants: the reduced crystal-liquid interfacial tension, α the fraction, f, of acceptor sites in the crystal surface, and the reduced glass temperature, Trg.
Abstract: Summary Generally substances are more stable in a crystalline than in a glassy state. Therefore, to form a glass, crystallization must be bypassed. Under certain conditions, the melts of many substances can be cooled to the glass state. Whether or not the melt of a given material forms a glass is determined principally by a set of factors which can be specified to some extent in the laboratory, namely, the cooling rate, - T, the liquid volume, v], and the seed density, ps and upon a set of materials constants: the reduced crystal–liquid interfacial tension, α the fraction, f, of acceptor sites in the crystal surface, and the reduced glass temperature, Trg . The glass-forming tendency will be greater the larger are - T and Trg and the smaller are v]. ps, and f. The number and variety of substances which have been prepared in a glassy or ‘amorphous solid’ form have been greatly increased with techniques in which the material is condensed from solution on to a surface held well below its glass temperature. T...
1,896 citations
TL;DR: This article will introduce quantum random walks, review some of their properties and outline their striking differences to classical walks, introducing some of the main concepts and language of present day quantum information science in this context.
Abstract: This article aims to provide an introductory survey on quantum random walks. Starting from a physical effect to illustrate the main ideas we will introduce quantum random walks, review some of their properties and outline their striking differences to classical walks. We will touch upon both physical effects and computer science applications, introducing some of the main concepts and language of present day quantum information science in this context. We will mention recent developments in this new area and outline some open questions.
1,574 citations
TL;DR: The Langmuir trough enables high quality organic layers (Langmuir-Blodgett films) to be deposited onto a variety of substrates as discussed by the authors, including two-dimensional magnetism, integrated and electro-optics, electron beam lithography, biological membranes, charge injection devices and field effect transistors.
Abstract: The Langmuir trough enables high quality organic layers (Langmuir-Blodgett films) to be deposited onto a variety of substrates. This article describes the preparation and characterization of these monolayer and multilayer films and reviews many of their potential applications; these include two-dimensional magnetism, integrated and electro-optics, electron beam lithography, biological membranes, charge injection devices and field-effect transistors.
1,269 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the theoretical foundation of the Bessel beam is described and various experiments that make use of Bessel beams are discussed: these cover a wide range of fields including non-linear optics, where the intense central core of the bessel beam has attracted interest; short pulse non-diffracting fields; atom optics, and optical manipulation where the reconstruction properties of the beam enable new effects to be observed that cannot be seen with Gaussian beams.
Abstract: Diffraction is a cornerstone of optical physics and has implications for the design of all optical systems. The paper discusses the so-called 'non-diffracting' light field, commonly known as the Bessel beam. Approximations to such beams can be experimentally realized using a range of different means. The theoretical foundation of these beams is described and then various experiments that make use of Bessel beams are discussed: these cover a wide range of fields including non-linear optics, where the intense central core of the Bessel beam has attracted interest; short pulse non-diffracting fields; atom optics, where the narrow non-diffracting features of the Bessel beam are able to act as atomic guides and atomic confinement devices and optical manipulation, where the reconstruction properties of the beam enable new effects to be observed that cannot be seen with Gaussian beams. The intensity profile of the Bessel beam may offer routes to investigating statistical physics as well as new techniques for the...
1,173 citations