The Eleventh International
Conference on Liquid and Amorphous Metals (LAM-11) was held at Keio University
(Yokohama, Japan) as the 55th Yamada Conference, from September 9 to
14, 2001. This conference was the eleventh of the series, and aimed to
provide the community of scientists who are interested in liquid and
amorphous metals with an up-to-date survey of the progress in the field.
The first conference was held as the LM-1 in 1966 in Brookhaven for the
basic understanding of liquid metals. Succeeding LM conferences were
held in Tokyo (1972) and Bristol (1976). From the fourth conference in
Grenoble (1980), the subject of amorphous metals was added and thereafter
the conference has been referred to as LAM. The conference continued
in Los Angeles (1983), Garmisch-Partenkirchen (1986), Kyoto (1989), Vienna
(1992), Chicago (1995), and Dortmund (1998).
The scope of LAM-11 covers liquid metals and alloys, liquid semiconductors,
expanded liquid metals, quasicrystals, amorphous metals, metallic glasses, clusters,
wetting phenomena, levitation melting and other related topics. In particular,
the emphasis was placed upon new phenomena obtained from powerful techniques
using, for example, synchrotron radiation, strong neutron sources, and extreme
conditions such as high temperatures and high pressures. Emphasis was also placed
upon simulation studies by means of state-of-the-art computers.
The LAM-11 conference in Yokohama was attended by close to 150 scientists from
14 countries. At this ‘first LAM conference in the 21st century’,
the attempt was successfully made to evaluate the results of the preceding 10
conferences for 35 years in the 20th century, to analyze the present status of
the field and to discuss the future prospects. The present proceedings include
14 invited papers and 111 contributed papers, all of which have been subjected
to authentic review.
On the third day of the LAM-11 conference, i.e. on September 11, Yokohama was
struck by a big typhoon in the morning, but the weather recovered by late afternoon
and was followed by a beautiful sunset. At 10 pm Japan time, we saw on TV the
terrible tragedy in New York, which shook the world. In our LAM community as
well as in any community of scientists, members are united by a sense of solidarity
irrespective of nationality, race, religion, age or gender. It is time for us,
scientists, to think about what we might be able to do for worldwide peace in
this century.
The success of the conference and the publication of the proceedings would not
have been possible without the encouragement and financial support from the Yamada
Science Foundation, for which we express our sincere gratitude. We wish to acknowledge
the advice of the International Advisory Board, the International Program Committee
and the Organizing Committee. We are grateful to the US Regional Editor of the
Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, Professor K.F. Kelton, and many referees who
helped with the difficult task of selecting papers for publication. We also extend
our thanks to the Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University and Yokohama
Convention and Visitors Bureau for their support.
At the meeting of the International Advisory Board, it was agreed to hold the
next conference in France in 2004, organized by J.G. Gasser, Université de
Metz.
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