The rediscovery of fast ion conduction in solids in the 1960's stimulated interest both in the scientific community in which the fundamentals of diffusion, order-disorder phenomena and crystal structure evaluation required re-examination, and in the technical community in which novel approaches to energy conversion and chemical sensing became possible with the introduction of the new field of "Solid State Ionics. " Because of both the novelty and the vitality of this field, it has grown rapidly in many directions. This growth has included the discovery of many new crystalline fast ion conductors, and the extension to the fields of organic and amorphous compounds. The growth has involved the extension of classical diffusion theory in an attempt to account for carrier interactions and the development of sophisticated computer models. Diffraction techniques have been refined to detect carrier distributions and anharmonic vibrations. Similar advances in the application of other techniques such as NMR, Raman, IR, and Impedance Spectroscopies to this field have also occurred. The applications of fast ion conducting solid electrolytes have also developed in many directions. High energy density Na/S batteries are now reaching the last stages of development, Li batteries are being implanted in humans for heart pacemakers, and solid state fuel cells are again being considered for future power plants. The proliferation of inexpensive microcomputers has stimulated the need for improved chemical sensors--a major application now being the zirconia auto exhaust sensor being sold by the millions each year.

The main motivation for the organization of the Advanced Research Workshop in Belgirate was the promotion of discussions on the most recent issues and the future perspectives in the field of Solid State lonics. The location was chosen on purpose since Belgirate was the place were twenty years ago, also then under the sponsorship of NATO, the very first international meeting on this important and interdisciplinary field took place. That meeting was named "Fast Ion Transport in Solids" and gathered virtually everybody at that time having been active in any aspect of motion of ions in solids. The original Belgirate Meeting made for the first time visible the technological potential related to the phenomenon of the fast ionic transport in solids and, accordingly, the field was given the name "Solid State lonics". This field is now expanded to cover a wide range of technologies which includes chemical sensors for environmental and process control, electrochromic windows, mirrors and displays, fuel cells, high performance rechargeable batteries for stationary applications and electrotraction, chemotronics, semiconductor ionics, water electrolysis cells for hydrogen economy and other applications. The main idea for holding an anniversary meeting was that of discussing the most recent issues and the future perspectives of Solid State lonics just twenty years after it has started at the same location on the lake Maggiore in North Italy.

Introduction to Solid State Ionics: Phenomenology and Applications presents a pedagogical, graduate-level treatment of the science and technology of superionic conductors, also known as fast ion conductors or solid electrolytes. Suitable for physics, materials science, and engineering researchers and students, the text emphasizes basic physics and

Contents:Recent Trends in Solid State Ionics (T Takahashi)Theoretical Aspects of Fast Ion Conduction in Solids (D Brinkman)Chemical Bonding and Interaction Processes in Framework Structures (P Hagenmuller)Characterization of New Ambient Temperature Lithium Polymer-Electrolyte (G C Farrington)Relaxation of Conductivity to Structure and Structural Relaxation in Ion-Conducting Glasses (C A Angell & H Senapati)Electrochemical Studies on High Tc Superconductors (L-Q Chen & X-J Huang)Light Scattering Studies on Superionic Conductor YSZ (M Ishigame et al.)and others Readership: Solid state physicists, materials scientists and condensed matter physicists.

Contents:Glass Surfaces (C Pantano)Current Thoughts on Crystal Nucleation and Growth in Viscous Liquids (D Turnbull)Design of Glass-Ceramics (G Beall)Dynamic Ions in Oxide Glasses (H Jain)Black Box(es) Analysis of Glass Melting Furnaces (A R Cooper)Some Recent Studies of Structure and Modelling in Glasses (K J Rao)Ion-Exchange Processing of Glasses (D Chakravorty)Nonlinear Structural Relaxation in Glassy Systems: An Interpretation of the Narayanaswamy Model (B Bagchi)Crystallisation of Metallic Glasses (P R Rao)Fast Ion Conduction in Glasses: The New Solid Electrolytes (C A Angell)Strength and Fatigue of Oxide Glasses (C R Kurkjian)Models of the Glass Transitions (P K Gupta)Colloidal Glasses (A K Sood)Glass in New Electro-Optic Devices (E Snitzer)Optical Coatings on Glass by Sol-Gel Processing: Achievements and Future Tasks (D Ganguli)Oxidation-Reduction Equilibrium During Preform Making of Optical Fibre (A Paul)Application of Finite Element Analysis to Glass Processing (A K Varshneya)Double Glass Transition and Double Stage Crystallization in Te Based Chalcogenide Glasses (S Ashokan & E S R Gopal)Heat Release and Calorimetry Near Glass Transition (A K Raychaudhuri & M Rajeswan)Heavy Metal Fluoride Glasses (C T Moynihan) Readership: Materials scientists and condensed matter physicists.