This volume presents lecture notes of the 12th International School of Theoretical Physics held in 2016 in Rzeszów, Poland. The lectures serve as an introduction for young physicists starting their career in condensed matter theoretical physics. The book provides a comprehensive overview of modern ideas and advances in theories and experiments of new materials, quantum nanostructures as well as new mathematical methods.This lecture note is an essential source of reference for physicists and materials scientists. It is also a suitable reading for graduate students.

The spin degree of freedom is an intrinsically quantum-mechanical phenomenon, leading to both intriguing applications and unsolved fundamental issues (such as "where does the proton spin come from"). The present volume investigates central aspects of modern spin physics in the form of extensive lectures on semiconductor spintronics, the spin-pairing mechanism in high-temperature semiconductors, spin in quantum field theory and the nucleon spin.

This book fills a gap between many of the basic solid state physics and materials sciencebooks that are currently available. It is written for a mixed audience of electricalengineering and applied physics students who have some knowledge of elementaryundergraduate quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics. This book, based on asuccessful course taught at MIT, is divided pedagogically into three parts: (I) ElectronicStructure, (II) Transport Properties, and (III) Optical Properties. Each topic is explainedin the context of bulk materials and then extended to low-dimensional materials whereapplicable. Problem sets review the content of each chapter to help students to understandthe material described in each of the chapters more deeply and to prepare them to masterthe next chapters.

The study of quantum fluids, stimulated by the discovery of superfluidity in liquid helium, has experienced renewed interest after the observation of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in ultra-cold atomic gases and the observation a new type of quantum fluid with specific characteristics derived from its intrinsic out-of-equilibrium nature. The main objective of this book is to take a snapshot of the state-of-the-art of this fast moving field with a special emphasis on the hot topics and new trends. Bringing together the most active specialists of the two areas (atomic and polaritonic quantum fluids), we expect that this book will facilitate the exchange and the collaboration between these two communities working on subjects with very strong analogies.

This book presents the most important advances in the class of topological materials and discusses the topological characterization, modeling and metrology of materials. Further, it addresses currently emerging characterization techniques such as optical and acoustic, vibrational spectroscopy (Brillouin, infrared, Raman), electronic, magnetic, fluorescence correlation imaging, laser lithography, small angle X-ray and neutron scattering and other techniques, including site-selective nanoprobes. The book analyzes the topological aspects to identify and quantify these effects in terms of topology metrics. The topological materials are ubiquitous and range from (i) de novo nanoscale allotropes of carbons in various forms such as nanotubes, nanorings, nanohorns, nanowalls, peapods, graphene, etc. to (ii) metallo-organic frameworks, (iii) helical gold nanotubes, (iv) Möbius conjugated polymers, (v) block co-polymers, (vi) supramolecular assemblies, to (vii) a variety of biological and soft-matter systems, e.g. foams and cellular materials, vesicles of different shapes and genera, biomimetic membranes, and filaments, (viii) topological insulators and topological superconductors, (ix) a variety of Dirac materials including Dirac and Weyl semimetals, as well as (x) knots and network structures. Topological databases and algorithms to model such materials have been also established in this book. In order to understand and properly characterize these important emergent materials, it is necessary to go far beyond the traditional paradigm of microscopic structure-property-function relationships to a paradigm that explicitly incorporates topological aspects from the outset to characterize and/or predict the physical properties and currently untapped functionalities of these advanced materials. Simulation and modeling tools including quantum chemistry, molecular dynamics, 3D visualization and tomography are also indispensable. These concepts have found applications in condensed matter physics, materials science and engineering, physical chemistry and biophysics, and the various topics covered in the book have potential applications in connection with novel synthesis techniques, sensing and catalysis. As such, the book offers a unique resource for graduate students and researchers alike.

Over two volumes and 1500 pages, the Handbook of Spintronics will cover all aspects of spintronics science and technology, including fundamental physics, materials properties and processing, established and emerging device technology and applications. Comprising 60 chapters from a large international team of leading researchers across academia and industry, the Handbook provides readers with an up-to-date and comprehensive review of this dynamic field of research. The opening chapters focus on the fundamental physical principles of spintronics in metals and semiconductors, including an introduction to spin quantum computing. Materials systems are then considered, with sections on metallic thin films and multilayers, magnetic tunnelling structures, hybrids, magnetic semiconductors and molecular spintronic materials. A separate section reviews the various characterisation methods appropriate to spintronics materials, including STM, spin-polarised photoemission, x-ray diffraction techniques and spin-polarised SEM. The third part of the Handbook contains chapters on the state of the art in device technology and applications, including spin valves, GMR and MTJ devices, MRAM technology, spin transistors and spin logic devices, spin torque devices, spin pumping and spin dynamics and other topics such as spin caloritronics. Each chapter considers the challenges faced by researchers in that area and contains some indications of the direction that future work in the field is likely to take. This reference work will be an essential and long-standing resource for the spintronics community.

A modern, graduate-level introduction to many-body physics in condensed matter, this textbook explains the tools and concepts needed for a research-level understanding of the correlated behavior of quantum fluids. Starting with an operator-based introduction to the quantum field theory of many-body physics, this textbook presents the Feynman diagram approach, Green's functions and finite-temperature many-body physics before developing the path integral approach to interacting systems. Special chapters are devoted to the concepts of Fermi liquid theory, broken symmetry, conduction in disordered systems, superconductivity and the physics of local-moment metals. A strong emphasis on concepts and numerous exercises make this an invaluable course book for graduate students in condensed matter physics. It will also interest students in nuclear, atomic and particle physics.