Table of contents

The Hamiltonian description of hydrodynamic type systems in application to plasmas, hydrodynamics, and magnetohydrodynamics is reviewed with emphasis on the problem of introducing canonical variables. The relation to other Hamiltonian approaches, in particular natural-variable Poisson brackets, is pointed out. It is shown that the degeneracy of noncanonical Poisson brackets relates to a special type of symmetry, the relabeling transformations of fluid-particle Lagrangian markers, from which all known vorticity conservation theorems, such as Ertel's, Cauchy's, Kelvin's, as well as vorticity frozenness and the topological Hopf invariant, are derived. The application of canonical variables to collisionless plasma kinetics is described. The Hamiltonian structure of Benney's equations and of the Rossby wave equation is discussed. Davey–Stewartson's equation is given the Hamiltonian form. A general method for treating weakly nonlinear waves is presented based on classical perturbation theory and the Hamiltonian reduction technique.

Peculiarities of cluster properties are considered and processes involving them discussed. Generation methods and applications in material fabrication are described. The kinetics of cluster growth in expanding vapor is analysed. The absorption and emission properties of clusters as systems of bound atoms are examined. The properties of a cluster plasma, i.e., a cluster-containing ionized gas, are discussed in relation to cluster light sources.

A review is presented of some recent theoretical results in the research and development work on artificial spatially dispersive media and on structures possessing chiral properties in the microwave range. The results discussed are mainly obtained for chiral objects taken in the form of long helices of small radius to wavelength ratio, and of arrays of such helices. These structures display strong polarization-selective resonance effects which give rise to a rich variety of their electrodynamic properties.

Dust particle ordering is discussed in various types of low-temperature plasma, such as thermal plasmas at atmospheric pressure, dc glow discharges, and UV-induced plasmas. Experimental data and numerical simulation results are presented. Properties of ordered structures are discussed and the conditions of formation considered.

A unique apparatus for in-situ atomic-resolution study of solid state structures grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is developed, in which a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is combined with an MBE chamber within the same vacuum system. The utility of the apparatus is demonstrated by examining atomic structures on a molecular-beam-epitaxial GaAs(001) surface over a wide range of [As]/[Ga] ratios. By varying the As surface coverage, the 2×4 – α, β, γ and c(4×4) phases are examined in detail. High-resolution STM images indicate that 2×4 – α, β, and γ phases in the outermost surface layer have essentially the same unit cell consisting of two As dimers and two As dimer vacancies. Using the STM images, reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) patterns and dynamical RHEED calculations, the existing structural models for the 2×4 phases are analysed and a new model of the As-rich GaAs(001) surface is proposed, found to be consistent with most of the previous observations.