Physics in Local Lattice Distortions Fundamentals and Novel Concepts, LLD2K, Ibaraki, Japan, 23-26 July 2000

LLD2K is the first international conference focused on local lattice distortions, i.e., local breaking of symmetry or patterning with a nanometer length scale. The proceedings cover fundamentals as well as latest developments, revealing generic features of a novel class of materials which exhibit exotic properties such as high temperature superconductivity or colossal magnetoresistance. Fundamentals such as Jahn-Teller distortion, lattice instability and structural phase transition are reviewed with modern interpretations. Experimental and theoretical developments in local lattice distortions of cuprates and manganites are described. Generic features of correlated electrons, such as quantum fluctuation and ordering known as stripes, are related to the microscropic mechanism.