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Issues
September 1984
ISSN 0031-9228
EISSN 1945-0699
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Letters
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Articles
Stimulated desorption from surfaces
Physics Today 37 (9), 24–32 (1984);
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2916399
New techniques for probing the complex electronic excitations that expel atoms and ions from surfaces are putting new demands on our picture of the surface bond.
Experiment and mathematics in Newton's theory of color
Physics Today 37 (9), 34–42 (1984);
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2916400
Newton's decade‐long struggle to devise a mathematical theory of color—abandoned in his landmark Opticks—gives unusual insight into his concept of a scientific theory.
High‐pressure research with synchrotron radiation
Physics Today 37 (9), 44–52 (1984);
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2916401
As diamond anvils subject solids to pressures beyond a million atmospheres, synchrotron x rays find new phase transitions between states of different crystallographic structure.
Thermodynamics in finite time
Physics Today 37 (9), 62–70 (1984);
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2916405
Asking how well systems can perform if they are to deliver power, not just energy, leads to investigations both in abstract, fundamental thermodynamics and in almost‐applicable physics, such as determining the optimal motion of a piston.
