Preface: Phys. Status Solidi C 11–12/2011
Authors: Clavaguera‐Mora M. T. , Rodríguez‐Viejo J. 
Published: October 2011

The 10th International Workshop on Non‐Crystalline Solids was held at the Casa Convalescència Meeting and Convention Center in Barcelona, Spain, on 21–23 April 2010.

In spite of the volcano eruption that partly closed the European air space the workshop was very well attended. 130 abstracts were presented and discussed in a three‐day symposium. Nearly half of the presentations have been submitted for publication and many are included in these proceedings. Through these papers, the reader can get a glimpse of the areas of research covered during the conference. We are also particularly indebted to the reviewers that ensured the high quality of the scientific publications collected here. 15 further papers were selected for publication in physica status solidi (a) [1]. The organizers thank all the participants for contributing to a highly successful meeting.

The workshop focused on recent advances and emerging technologies in non‐crystalline and nano‐structured materials. Oral presentations and posters covered a broad spectrum of topics: (i) glass transition and relaxation phenomena, (ii) physical properties: magnetic, mechanical, transport and optical, (iii) phase transformation kinetics: nucleation and crystal growth, (iv) local structure and dynamics of glasses and supercooled liquids and (v) applications of advanced non‐crystalline alloys. Plenary lectures were given by A. Angell from Arizona State University on current developments in glass former phenomenology, M. Wuttig, RTWH Aachen University, on phase change materials, J. Colmenero, University of Vasque Country, on the universal‐glass forming behavior vs. polymer specific properties, C. V. Thompson, MIT, on crystallization volume changes in glass forming alloys and M. D. Ediger, University of Madison, on ultrastable glasses from vapor deposition. Besides, 12 keynote lectures, 37 oral presentations and 65 posters were presented at the conference.

The workshop highlighted the use of different techniques, together with fundamental analysis of the coupling between thermodynamics and dynamics on the ergodicity‐breaking at glass transition. The local structure and dynamics of glasses and supercooled liquids including theories, experiments and temperature effects were themes of the presentation together with crystallization kinetics. The magnetic, mechanical, transport and optical properties were discussed. Recent advances on magnetic nanoparticles and amorph‐ous magnetic microwires as well as amorphous chalcogenides for electrical data storage were presented.

We are particularly grateful to Gemma Garcia who handled the difficult task of dealing with duties associated with the financial management of the conference, especially challenging due to the effects of the volcano eruption. Our Local Organizing Committee also includes Iris Moder, Edgar León‐Gutiérrez, and Joan Torrens‐Serra. We thank all them for the well done job. We are also pleased to acknowledge financial assistance from the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología of Spain, the Departament d'Innovació, Universitats i Empresa from Generalitat de Catalunya and from Perkin‐Elmer.

It was agreed by the International Advisory Committee that the XI International Workshop on Non‐Crystalline Solids will take place at Le Mans, France, in 2012.