This thesis is devoted to the study of a class of antifferomagnetic spin–1 chains with astrong easy plane anisotropy in the presence of magnetic field H. At zero temperature thesystem undergoes two quantum phase transitions at critical fields H1 and H2. Reliableand detailed theoretical analysis is provided on the Electron Spin Resonance (ESR)spectrum, thermodynamics and the thermal transport of the model. The tools at handrange from exact analytical solutions and to numerical simulation techniques. The S = 1antiferromagnet in a magnetic field can be systematically mapped onto an S = 1/2XXZ chain in a longitudinal magnetic field. This effective S = 1/2 description has beenextensively used in order to gain a better physical understanding of the original S = 1chain.For the Electron Spin Resonance spectrum, apart from the theoretical analysis, high-field ESR experimental studies of the compound N iCl2 − 4SC(NH2)2 (abbreviatedas DTN) are presented and found consistent with theoretical predictions. The mostinteresting feature is the experimental signature of the single–ion two–magnon boundstate.Part of this thesis is devoted to the magnetic–field and temperature dependence ofmagnetization and specific heat for the whole field–region and a wide range of temperatures,with special emphasis at the critical behaviour of these quantities at the criticalfields. Finally, the calculation of dynamic correlation functions pertinent to the studyof thermal transport is addressed for the S = 1 model with easy plane anisotropy andthe S = 1/2 XXZ model in the presence of finite magnetic field.