Microwave studies of chaotic billiards and disordered systems

A review is given on our recent microwave results in chaotic systems with special emphasis on examples having a direct relevance for real mesoscopic systems. We present tests of predictions by Simons and Altshuler on velocity distributions of different types of spectral level dynamics, studies of transmission fluctuations through open billiards, and of the localization–delocalization transition of wave functions in disordered systems. The review ends with a presentation of chaotic field distributions in three-dimensional billiards.