Systems driven far from thermodynamic equilibrium can create dissipative structures through the spontaneous breaking of symmetries. A particularly fascinating feature of these pattern-forming systems is their tendency to produce spatially confined states. These localized wave packets can exist as propagating entities through space and/or time. Various examples of such systems will be dealt with in this book, including localized states in fluids, chemical reactions on surfaces, neural networks, optical systems, granular systems, population models, and Bose-Einstein condensates.This book should appeal to all physicists, mathematicians and electrical engineers interested in localization in far-from-equilibrium systems. The authors - all recognized experts in their fields - strive to achieve a balance between theoretical and experimental considerations thereby giving an overview of fascinating physical principles, their manifestations in diverse systems, and the novel technical applications on the horizon.

Autorentext
Prof. Orazio Descalzi has edited in the last years the following books: Instabilities and Nonequilibrium Structures VII & VIII (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2004)- Instabilities and Nonequilibrium Structures IX (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2004) Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics and Nonlinear Physics (Elsevier, 2005)- Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics and Nonlinear Physics (American Institute of Physics, 2007

Inhalt

Solitons, Self-confined Light and Optical Turbulence. Ligt Self-trapping in Nematic Liquid Crystals.- Photonic Plasma Instabilities and Soliton Turbulence in Spatially Incoherent Light.- Gap-Acoustic Solitons: Slowing and Stopping of Light.- Optical Wave Turbulence and Wave Condensation in a Nonlinear Optical Experiment.- Localized Structures in Pattern Forming Systems. Localized Structures in the Liquid Crystal Light Valve Experiment.- Convectons.- Morphological Characterization of Localized Hexagonal Pattern.- Localized Structures for Optical Applications. Cavity Solitons in Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers and their Applications.- Cavity Soliton Laser Based on Coupled Micro-Resonators.- Cavity Soliton Laser based on a VCSEL with saturable Absorber.- Dynamic Control of Localized Structures in a Nonlinear Feedback Experiment.- Excitability and Localized States. Interaction of Oscillatory and Excitable Localized States in a Nonlinear Optical Cavity.- Lurching Waves in Thalamic Neuronal Networks.- Index.