ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book begins by laying down the foundation of vacuum physics. This includes the discussion on necessity of vacuum in experimental techniques, listing historical developments pertaining to vacuum technology and classification based on different ranges of vacuum. The book deals with the discussion of a typical high vacuum set up and an ultra-high vacuum set up. It discusses various experimental techniques required for the understanding of solid matter, viz. structure, morphology, electronic structure as well as data analysis and methods to improve the data. The book also gives sufficient details about materials needed for the experiments and techniques to create special environment for such an analysis. The experimental conditions of matter, viz. temperature, vacuum etc. also need to be considered. These conditions determine the properties of matter and are discussed.
