With the discovery of high-temperature superconductors, research into polarons and bipolarons has attracted much attention. This book is the first standard reference to give a comprehensive view of the polaron and bipolaron theory of high-temperature superconductivity, one of the most significant discoveries in physics in the past decade. Scientists have also observed polarons and bipolarons in magnetic semiconductors and transition metal oxides. The thorough investigation of these nonsuperconducting materials has contributed greatly to our basic understanding of the physical properties of...