| Abstract: | This special volume of The European Physical Journal D contains papers presented at the 10th International Symposium on Small Particles and Inorganic Clusters, ISSPIC 10, which was held from October 11th to 15th, 2000, in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The meeting was attended by over 300 scientists
from all over the world, and in it 45 invited and hot-topic lectures were given, and 330 posters were presented. In keeping
with the tradition of the ISSPIC meetings, the 10th anniversary symposium was devoted to a broad and balanced overview of
new results, emerging trends and perspectives pertaining to the physics and chemistry of clusters. The meeting covered experimental
and theoretical investigations of gas-phase and supported clusters, nanoscale cluster-based materials, and nanometer. The
sessions at ISSPIC 10 were organized as mini-symposia, and topics included: electronic and structural properties of clusters, charged clusters
and photoelectron spectroscopy, fast laser spectroscopy and dynamics, cluster-surface interactions and cluster deposition,
helium clusters and spectroscopy, structural evolution and thermodynamics of clusters, cluster reactivity and nano-catalysis,
two-dimensional quantum dots, nano-crystals and self-assembly, mechanical, electronic and transport properties of carbon nanotubes,
structure and conductance properties of nanowires, formation and stability of droplets and jets, and medical applications
of colloidal clusters. Most importantly, the symposium provided an interdisciplinary forum for presentation and discussion
of fundamental and methodological aspects as well as technologically oriented developments. The opening session of ISSPIC 10 was dedicated to the memory of Professor Walter D. Knight, a pioneer in the field of clusters. The work of Walter and his
research group at Berkeley on electronic shells in metal clusters opened new avenues in cluster science and contributed significantly
to the rapid growth of this field. We would like to take this opportunity to gratefully acknowledge the financial assistance
extended to the symposium by the Georgia Institute of Technology and by the United States Air Force Office of Scientific Research.
We also thank the participants for contributing to the success of ISSPIC 10 through communicating their latest scientific results during the meeting and via the papers appearing in these proceedings. |
