This booklet is devoted to the thermodynamic and kinetic description of first-order phase transitions. In general, the matter of the world exists in different phases. Normally phase ctlanges take place in ther modynamic equilibrium, which will be considered here. Typically, the system is rapidly quenched from a one-phase thermal equilibrium state to a nonequilibrium situation. During the so-ca lIed equilibrium phase transformation process the quenched supersaturated system evolves from the nonequilibrium state to an equilibrium one which consists of two coexisting phases. In aseries of books...

The present book is the account of a workshop on Integrated Optics and Micro-Optics with Polymers held in spring 1992 at Mainz and organized by IMM Institute of Microtechnology GmbH, the Max Planck Institute of Poly- mer Research, and the Institute of Applied Physics of Friedrich Schiller University at Jena. The field of Integrated Optics and Micro-Optics with Polymers is receiving growing interest from multiple sides. Among the important reasons are the potential of tailoring materials for a specific application, the easy and cheap availability of those materials, and the possibilities of...