Table of contents

We review the current knowledge of the geometric and electronic structure of oxide surfaces. In particular, material published during the last five years and going beyond the latest book by Henrich and Cox, Surface Science of Oxide Surfaces, is documented. In addition to the discussion of effects on and in bulk oxide single crystal samples, and in fact mainly, we also refer to work on thin oxide films epitaxially grown on metallic substrates. Surface states on oxide surfaces as well as band structure effects are discussed. Reconstruction and the local electronic structure are other aspects covered. We review experimental as well as theoretical approaches. Adsorption on oxide surfaces is an important subject covered in this review, and oxide modification by metal adsorption is also mentioned.

This review was received in October 1995

A review of cryogenic particle detectors is presented. A major motivation for developing this type of particle detector is their superior sensitivity to weakly ionizing particle interactions. This makes them suitable devices for detecting solar neutrinos via the coherent neutrino scattering off nuclei and for detecting non-baryonic dark matter candidates in our galactic halo. Cryogenic particle detectors have reached, and in some cases already surpassed, the high energy resolution of the best semiconducting detectors, and they have the potential of becoming the next generation of high-resolution detectors. The emphasis of this review is on the basic condensed matter physics of these low-temperature detectors and to present an overview of the present experimental status.

This review was received in October 1995

Confocal optical microscopy is a technique for increasing the contrast of microscope images, particularly in thick specimens. By restricting the observed volume, the technique keeps overlying or nearby scatterers from contributing to the detected signal. The price for this is that the instrument must observe only one point at a time (in the scanning laser version) or a group of separated points with very little light (in the disc version). This paper describes how the confocal advantage comes about and how it is implemented in actual instruments.

This review was received in October 1995