Not merely a discussion of small particles or clusters of atoms, molecules, but also the systems they constitute. The goal is to analyse the properties of such finite aggregates and their behaviour in gases and plasmas, and to investigate processes that involve such clusters, based on lectures and seminar problems for graduates. The main part of the book includes more than 200 problems, covering collisions, charge transfer, chemical reactions, condensed systems and their structures, kinetics of cluster growth, excited clusters, the transition from clusters to bulk particles, and small particles, dust, and aerosols in plasmas. Reference data for corresponding parameters of systems under consideration is given in the appendices. Of interest to physicists, astrophysicists, and chemists.

A lively demonstration of the great vitality and the multidisciplinary character of cluster research and of the usefulness of synthesizing its various aspects was given at this symposium. This volume covers all aspects of the physical and chemical properties of free and supported clusters or small particles: static, dynamical, electronic, magnetic and optical properties, adsorption and chemical phenomena. It thus gives a complete overview of the status of the field and its development.

Atom Probe Tomography is aimed at beginners and researchers interested in expanding their expertise in this area. It provides the theoretical background and practical information necessary to investigate how materials work using atom probe microscopy techniques, and includes detailed explanations of the fundamentals, the instrumentation, contemporary specimen preparation techniques, and experimental details, as well as an overview of the results that can be obtained. The book emphasizes processes for assessing data quality and the proper implementation of advanced data mining algorithms. For those more experienced in the technique, this book will serve as a single comprehensive source of indispensable reference information, tables, and techniques. Both beginner and expert will value the way the book is set out in the context of materials science and engineering. In addition, its references to key research outcomes based upon the training program held at the University of Rouen—one of the leading scientific research centers exploring the various aspects of the instrument—will further enhance understanding and the learning process. - Provides an introduction to the capabilities and limitations of atom probe tomography when analyzing materials - Written for both experienced researchers and new users - Includes exercises, along with corrections, for users to practice the techniques discussed - Contains coverage of more advanced and less widespread techniques, such as correlative APT and STEM microscopy

It is difficult to imagine modem technology without small particles, 1-1000 nm in size, because virtually every industry depends in some way on the use of such materials. Catalysts, printing inks, paper, dyes and pigments, many medicinal products, adsorbents, thickening agents, some adhesives, clays, and hundreds of other diverse products are based on or involve small particles in a very fundamental way. In some cases finely divided materials occur naturally or are merely a convenient form for using a material. In most cases small particles play a special role in technology because in effect they constitute a different state of matter because of the basic fact that the surface of a material is different from the interior by virtue of the unsaturated bonding interactions of the outermost layers of atoms at the surface of a solid. Whereas in a macroscale particle these differences are often insignificant, as the 9 surface area per unit mass becomes larger by a factor of as much as 10 , physical and chemical effects such as adsorption become so pronounced as to make the finely divided form of the bulk material into essentially a different material usually one that has no macroscale counterpart.

On Friday, February 20, 1980, I had the pleasure to be present at the inaugural lecture of my colleague Jan Reedijk, who had just been named at the Chair of Inorganic Chemistry of Leiden University. According to tradition, the ceremony took place in the impressive Hall of the old University Academy Building. In the course of his lecture, Jan mentioned a number of recent developments in chemistry which had struck him as particularly important or interesting. Among those was the synthesis of large metal cluster compounds, and, to my luck, he showed a slide ofthe molecular structure of [PtI9(C)b]4-. (To my luck, since at traditional Leiden University it is quite unusual to show slides at such ceremonies.) This constituted my first acquaintance with this exciting new class of materials. I became immediately fascinated by this molecule, partly because of the esthetic beauty of its fivefold symmetry, partly because as a physicist it struck me that it could be visualized as an "embryonically small" metal particle, embedded in a shell of CO ligands.

Various nanoclusters and microparticles are considered in excited and ionized gases, as well as various processes with their participation. The concepts of these processes were developed 50 - 100 years ago mostly for dense media, and basing on these concepts, we analyze these processes in gases in two opposite regimes, so that in the kinetic regime surrounding atoms of a buffer gas do not partake in processesinvolving small particles, and the diffusion regime corresponds to a dense gas where interaction of small particles with a buffer gas subjects to laws of hydrodynamics. For calculation or estimation of the rates of these processes, we are based on the liquid drop model for small particles which was introduced in physics by N. Bohr about 80 years ago for the analysis of properties of atomic nuclei including the nuclear fusion and the hard sphere model (or the model of billiard balls) which was used by J. C. Maxwell 150 years ago and helped to create the kinetic theory of gases. These models along with the analysis of their accuracy allow one to study various processes, such as transport processes in gases involving small particles, charging of small particles in gases, chemical processes, atom attachment and quenching of excited atomic particles on the surface of a small particle, nucleation processes for small particles including coagulation, coalescence and growth of fractal aggregates, chain aggregates, fractal fibres and aerogels. Each analysis is finished by analytic formulas or simple models which allow us to calculate the rate of a certain real process with a known accuracy or to estimate this, and criteria of validity are given for these expressions obtained. Examples of real objects and processes involving small particles are analyzed.

Filling the need for a solid textbook, this short primer in cluster science is ideal for a one-semester lecture for advanced undergraduate students. It is based on a series of lectures given by the well-established and recognized authors for the past ten years. The book covers both the basics of the domain as well as up-to-date developments. It can be divided roughly into two parts. The first three chapters introduce basic concepts of cluster science. Chapter 1 provides a general introduction, complemented by chapter 2 on experimental and chapter 3 on theoretical aspects. The second half of the book is devoted to a systematic presentation of free cluster properties, and to a thorough discussion of the impact of clusters in other domains of science. These explicitly worked-out links between cluster physics and other research areas are unique both in terms of fundamental aspects and of applications, and cannot be found elsewhere in the literature. Also suitable for researchers outside of the field looking for an introduction to cluster science.