Introduction to superconducting circuits

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Antonio Bianconi and Naurang L. Saini

This book is a collection of papers in the field of stripes and high Tc superconductivity. The most relevant theoretical and experimental contributions from experts in the field of stripes, presented at the Second International Conference on Stripes and High Tc Superconductivity, are selected for publication. The book includes contributions on other stripe phases observed in manganites, nikelates, spin ladders, and heterostructures. Since a large stream of research in a growing community is converging towards the stripe scenario, this book serves as an important reference in the field of striped phases and high Tc superconductivity. The problem of high Tc superconductors has been a central issue in solid-state physics since 1987. After the discovery of high Tc superconductivity (HTSC) in doped perovskites, it was realized that HTSC appears in an unknown complex electronic phase of condensed matter. In the early years, all theories of HTSC were focused on the physics of a homogeneous 2D metal with large electron-electron correlations or on a 2D polaron gas. Only after 1990 a novel paradigm started to emerge in which this 2D metallic phase is described as an inhomogeneous metal. This was the outcome of several experimental evidences of phase separation at low doping. Following the discovery by the Rome Group in 1992 that `the changes move freely mainly in one direction like the water running in the grooves in corrugated iron foil', a new scenario for understanding superconductivity in high Tc superconductors was opened. Since the charges move like rivers, the physics of these materials shifts towards the physics of novel mesoscopic heterostructures and complex electronic solids. Therefore, understanding the striped phases in the perovskites not only provides an opportunity to understand the anomalous metallic state of cuprate superconductors, but also suggests a way to design new materials of technological importance. The stripes are begetting a field of general scientific interest.

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Cher Ming Tan, Feifei He

Integrated circuit (IC) reliability is of increasing concern in present-day IC technology where the interconnect failures significantly increases the failure rate for ICs with decreasing interconnect dimension and increasing number of interconnect levels. Electromigration (EM) of interconnects has now become the dominant failure mechanism that determines the circuit reliability. This brief addresses the readers to the necessity of 3D real circuit modelling in order to evaluate the EM of interconnect system in ICs, and how they can create such models for their own applications. A 3-dimensional (3D) electro-thermo-structural model as opposed to the conventional current density based 2-dimensional (2D) models is presented at circuit-layout level.

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Maurizio Gasperini

<p>This reference textbook is an up-to-date and self-contained introduction to the theory of gravitational interactions. The first part of the book follows the traditional presentation of general relativity as a geometric theory of the macroscopic gravitational field. A second, advanced part then discusses the deep analogies (and differences) between a geometric theory of gravity and the gauge theories of the other fundamental interactions. This fills a gap which is present in the context of the traditional approach to general relativity, and which usually makes students puzzled about the role of gravity. The necessary notions of differential geometry are reduced to the minimum, leaving more room for those aspects of gravitational physics of current phenomenological and theoretical interest, such as the properties of gravitational waves, the gravitational interactions of spinors, and the supersymmetric and higher-dimensional generalization of the Einstein equations. Theory of Gravitational Interactions will be of particular value to undergraduate students pursuing a theoretical or astroparticle curriculum. It can also be used by those teaching related subjects, by PhD students and young researchers working in different scientific sectors but wishing to enlarge their spectrum of interests, and, in general, by all scholars interested in the modern aspects and problems of gravitational interaction.</p>

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Madeleine Roux

""Finally, a zombie apocalypse done right!"* The lurching, lunging, laugh-filled sequel to Allison Hewitt is Trapped. Spring is in the air, and a radical group of "Repopulationists"-- better known as Rabbits--are restless and ready to multiply. Unfortunately, these zealots manage to destroy a crucial barrier in north Seattle, unleashing the undead into the city. It's not good news for Sadie Walker, who's trying to live a normal life and raise her nephew in peace--when he's kidnapped by Rabbits. Now she's got to fight off zombies and zanies and sail a shipload of survivors to safety when she'd love to tell them all to get a life. But hey, it is the zombie apocalypse, after all... "--