This book exclusively focuses on the science and fundamentals of polymer gels, as well as the numerous advantages that polymer gel-based materials offer. It presents a comprehensive collection of chapters on the recent advances and developments in the core science and fundamentals of both synthetic and natural polymer-based gels, and pays particular attention to applications in the various research fields of biomedicine and engineering.

This book provides expert coverage of the physical properties of new non-crystalline solids―tellurite glass smart materials―and the latest applications of these materials, offering insights into innovative applications for radiation shielding, energy harvesting, laser devices, and temperature sensing, among others. In particular, there is a focus on optics, energy conversion technology and laser devices, structural and luminescence properties for laser applications, optothermal and optical properties in the presence of gold nanoparticles, and lanthanide doped zinc oxyfluoro-tellurite glass as a new smart material.

This book provides a systemic and self-contained guide to the theoretical description of the fundamental properties of plasmonic waves. The field of plasmonics is built on the interaction of electromagnetic radiation and conduction electrons at metallic interfaces or in metallic nanostructures, and so to describe basic plasmonic behavior, boundary-value problems may be formulated and solved using electromagnetic wave theory based on Maxwell’s equations and the electrostatic approximation.

Advances In Smart Coatings And Thin Films For Future Industrial and Biomedical Engineering Applications discusses in detail, the recent trends in designing, fabricating and manufacturing of smart coatings and thin films for future high-tech. industrial applications related to transportation, aerospace and biomedical engineering.

This book provides a systematic and comprehensive interdisciplinary overview of ductile mode cutting of brittle materials, covering a range of topics from the fundamental physics to engineering practices. Discussing the machining mechanics and material properties, it explains the fundamental mechanism of ductile-to-brittle transition in the cutting of brittle materials.

With the rapid worldwide increase of interest and excitement about the promise of artificial photosynthesis for renewable fuels, the research community is beginning to focus on the challenges of integrating the various components into complete, unassisted solar fuel generators. Integrated Solar Fuel Generators discusses the scientific and engineering efforts addressing the challenges of building complete integrated artificial photosystems that will form the basis for developing a solar fuels technology.

This book presents recent theoretical and experimental results of localized optical modes and low-threshold lasing in spiral photonic media. Efficient applications of localized modes for low-threshold lasing at the frequencies of localized modes are a central topic of the book’s new chapters. Attention is paid to the analytical approach to the problem. The book focuses on one of the most extensively studied media in this field, cholesteric liquid crystals.

This book presents experimental techniques in the field of aerodynamics, a discipline that is essential in numerous areas, such as the design of aerial and ground vehicles and engines, the production of energy, and understanding the wind resistance of buildings. Aerodynamics is not only concerned with improving the performance and comfort of vehicles, but also with reducing their environmental impact.

This book covers challenges and opportunities related to solar-energy based systems. It covers a wide variety of topics related to solar energy, including  applications-based systems such as solar thermal systems that are focused on drying, desalination, space cooling, refrigeration, and processing; recent advances in solar cells (DSSC) and photovoltaics;