The Jahn-Teller Effect: Fundamentals and Implications for Physics and Chemistry

The Jahn-Teller effect continues to be a paradigm for structural instabilities and dynamical processes in molecules and in the condensed phase. Among the many important newer developments in the field one should mention cooperative phenomena in crystals, the general importance of pseudo-Jahn-Teller couplings for symmetry-lowering phenomena in molecular systems, non-adiabatic processes at conical intersections of potential energy surfaces and extensions of the basic theory in relation to the discovery of fullerenes and other icosahedral systems.

Written by leading international experts the aim of the present volume is to provide a survey of the state-of-the art in Jahn-Teller interactions at the interface of quantum chemistry and condensed matter physics, addressing both the non-expert scientist as well as those experts interested in expanding their knowledge into neighboring areas.

Cast in form of a set of extensive and tutorial reviews – and thus suitable as a complement to available textbooks in the field – the following topics are dealt with in this book:

- Jahn-Teller effect and vibronic interactions: General theory

- Conical intersections and nonadiabatic dynamics in molecular processes

- Impurities; Spectroscopy of transition metal complexes

- Fullerenes and fullerides

- Jahn-Teller effect and molecular magnetism

- The cooperative Jahn-Teller effect and orbital ordering

- Jahn-Teller effect and high-Tc Superconductivity