Mesoscopic Quantum Physics

These proceedings focus on aspects of disorder where quantum interferences are present. Such interferences occur on a mesoscopic scale, intermediate between the microscopic (eg. atomic physics) and macroscopic scales (eg. traditional condensed matter physics). Before the emergence of mesoscopic quantum physics, the manifestations of these quantum interferences (weak localization in disordered metals, Anderson localization of hopping conductivity in insulators) were mainly studies from the point of view of the theory of critical phenomena (scaling theory of localization, renormalization of perturbative expansions, calculation of critical exponents). Anderson localization was then part of a more general field including two other problems where disorder and critical phenomena were relevant: percolation and frustration (spin glasses). The field of mesoscopic quantum physics has emerged over recent years from a range of new experiments such as universal conductance fluctuations (magneto-fingerprints), the effect of a Aharonov-Bohm flux on the conductance and the thermodynamic properties of mesoscopic rings and the quantized conductance of ballistic point contacts.
The discoveries of the integer and fractional quantum Hall effects and the high-Tc superconductors have renewed the interest for strongly correlated electron systems. All these recent developments in the field are covered in depth in this book which is organized with particular attention paid to pedagogy. It therefore includes both a description of the physical phenomena and a review of the methods, moving from an elementary level to the most recent techniques.
 
These proceedings focus on aspects of disorder where quantum interferences are present. Such interferences occur on a mesoscopic scale, intermediate between the microscopic (eg. atomic physics) and macroscopic scales (eg. traditional condensed matter physics). Before the emergence of mesoscopic quantum physics, the manifestations of these quantum interferences (weak localization in disordered metals, Anderson localization of hopping conductivity in insulators) were mainly studies from the point of view of the theory of critical phenomena (scaling theory of localization, renormalization of perturbative expansions, calculation of critical exponents). Anderson localization was then part of a more general field including two other problems where disorder and critical phenomena were relevant: percolation and frustration (spin glasses). The field of mesoscopic quantum physics has emerged over recent years from a range of new experiments such as universal conductance fluctuations (magneto-fingerprints), the effect of a Aharonov-Bohm flux on the conductance and the thermodynamic properties of mesoscopic rings and the quantized conductance of ballistic point contacts.
The discoveries of the integer and fractional quantum Hall effects and the high-Tc superconductors have renewed the interest for strongly correlated electron systems. All these recent developments in the field are covered in depth in this book which is organized with particular attention paid to pedagogy. It therefore includes both a description of the physical phenomena and a review of the methods, moving from an elementary level to the most recent techniques.