Physical Phenomena at High Magnetic Fields IV (PPHMF-IV) was the fourth in the series of conferences sponsored by the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL). The success of PPHMF-I, II and III, held in 1991, 1995 and 1998 respectively, encouraged the organizers to once again bring together experts in scientific research areas where high magnetic fields play an important role, to critically assess the current status of research in these areas, and to discuss promising new directions in science, as well as applications which are in the forefront of these fields.

This book summarizes most of the fundamental physical phenomena which semiconductors and their modulated structures exhibit in high magnetic fields. Readers can learn not only the basic theoretical background but also the present state of the art from the most advanced data in this rapidly growing research area.

Quasicrystals are a new form of the solid state which differ from the other two known forms, crystalline and amorphous, by possesing a new type of long-range translational order, called quasiperiodicty, and a noncrystallographic orientational order. This book provides an up-to-date description of the unusual physical properties of these new materials. Emphasis is placed on the experimental results, which are compared with those of the corresponding crystalline and amorphous systems and discussed in terms of modern theoretical models. Written by leading authorities in the field, the book will be of great use both to experienced workers in the field and to uninitiated graduate students.

A number of interrelated areas of low temperature physics are brought together in this volume. The four topics are presented as separate chapters. First is the study of the Kibble-Zurek mechanism for defect formation following quench cooling of superfluid 3He and its relation to quantum field theory. Properties of heavy fermion materials are described next with special attention to the competition between magnetism and superconductivity. Some of the newest correlated electron systems are discussed and the arguments for possible unconventional nature of the superconducting order parameter are presented for these systems, including the novel coexistence of ferromagnetism and superconductivity. Highly polarized degenerate Fermi liquids are of substantial interest in many areas of physics. The most complete description of observations of thermodynamic and transport phenomena are reviewed here for the case of polarized liquid 3He obtained by rapid melting from a polarized solid and subsequent rapid refrigeration. Properties of the melting curve of 3He, and the related technique of melting curve thermometry are described in detail.· Superfluid 3He and Quantum Field Theory· Large Scale structure of the Universe· Unconventional Superconductivity· Heavy Fermions· Quantum Phase Transitions· Polarized Fermi Liquids · Rapid Melting· 3He Melting Curve· Low Temperature Thermometry

This volume contains contributions presented at the 12th International Conference on High Magnetic Fields in Semiconductor Physics. In order to give an overview, 37 lecturers not only reviewed the latest results in their field, but also gave a general introduction. The rapid development of semiconductor physics and technology during the last few years has resulted in an extensive application of high magnetic fields in both fundamental and applied research; more than 160 contributed papers were presented as posters.Sixteen years after its discovery, the quantum Hall effect (QHE) is still a subject of high activity. Many new results on the fractional QHE were presented; in addition to 6 invited papers, there were 43 contributions. Another field of high activity is magneto-optics, and 49 posters were presented. Magnetotransport also turned out to be of high interest, and magnetic semiconductors played a prominent role at the conference, too.Without doubt, the availability of superconducting magnets in most laboratories contributed to the growth of semiconductor physics in high magnetic fields. Because not all experiments can be performed in fields up to 10 or 15 teslas, high magnetic field laboratories offering larger fields are indispensable. There were reports from four laboratories on present work going on at these installations.