It is widely recognized that an understanding of the optical pro perties of matter will give a great deal of important information re levant to the fundamental physical properties. This is especially true in semiconductor physics for which, due to the intrinsic low screening of these materials, the optical response is quite rich. Their spectra reflect indeed as well electronic as spin or phonon transitions. This is also in the semiconductor field that artificial structures have been recently developed, showing for the first time specific physical properties related to the low dimentionality of the electronic and vi bronic properties : with this respect the quantum and fractional quan tum Hall effects are among the most well known aspects. The associated reduced screening is also a clear manifestation of these aspects and as such favors new optical properties or at least significantly enhan ces some of them. For all these reasons, it appeared necessary to try to review in a global way what the optical investigation has brought today about the understanding of the physics of semiconductors. This volume collects the papers presented at the NATO Advanced study Inst i tut e on "Optical Properties of Semiconductors" held at the Ettore Majorana Centre, Erice, Sicily on March 9th to 20th, 1992. This school brought together 70 scientists active in research related to optical properties of semiconductors. There were 12 lecturers who pro vided the main contributions .

We began planning and writing this book in the late 1970s at the suggestion of Manuel Cardona and Helmut Lotsch. We also received considerable en couragement and stimulation from colleagues. Some said there was a need for instructional material in this area while others emphasized the utility of a research text. We tried to strike a compromise. The figures, tables, and references are included to enable researchers to obtain quickly essential information in this area of semiconductor research. For instructors and stu dents, we attempt to cover some basic ideas about electronic structure and semiconductor physics with applications to real, rather than model, solids. We wish to thank our colleagues and collaborators whose research re sults and ideas are presented here. Special thanks are due to Jim Phillips who influenced us both during our formative years and afterwards. We are grateful to Sari Yamagishi for her patience and skill with the typing and production of the manuscript. Finally, we acknowledge the great patience of Helmut Lotsch and Manuel Cardona. Berkeley, CA M.L. Cohen Minneapolis, MN, J.R. Chelikowsky March 1988 VII Contents 1. Introduction............................................... 1 2. Theoretical Concepts and Methods ..................... 4 2.1 The One-Electron Model and Band Structure............ 7 2.2 Properties of En(k) ...................................... 11 3. Pseudopotentials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1 The Empirical Pseudopotential Method.................. 20 3.2 Self-Consistent and Ab Initio Pseudopotentials ........... 25 4. Response Functions and Density of States .............. 30 4.1 Charge Density and Bonding ................... . . . . . . . . . 38 .

Semiconductors with optical characteristics have found widespread use in evolving semiconductor photovoltaics, where optical features are important. The industrialization of semiconductors and their allied applications have paved the way for optical measurement techniques to be used in new ways. Due to their unique properties, semiconductors are key components in the daily employed technologies in healthcare, computing, communications, green energy, and a range of other uses. This book examines the fundamental optical properties and applications of semiconductors. It summarizes the information as well as the optical characteristics and applicability of semiconductors through an in-depth review of the literature. Accomplished experts in the field share their knowledge and examine new developments. FEATURES Comprehensive coverage of all types of optical applications using semiconductors Explores relevant composite materials and devices for each application Addresses the optical properties of crystalline and amorphous semiconductors Describes new developments in the field and future potential applications Optical Properties and Applications of Semiconductors is a comprehensive reference and an invaluable resource for engineers, scientists, academics, and industry R&D teams working in applied physics.

Optical Properties and Band Structure of Semiconductors, Volume 1 presents the experimental studies of the fundamental energy band structure of semiconductors and insulators. This book provides detailed information of the available measurement methods and results for a large number of both cubic and non-cubic materials. Comprised of 10 chapters, this volume begins with an overview of the fundamental band structure of semiconductors. This text then discusses the instrumentation and methods available for the measurement of absorption coefficient, absolute reflection coefficient, and other optical properties of insulators and semiconductors primarily in their fundamental region. Other chapters consider the interband transitions in the one-electron approximation. The final chapter deals with the equivalence of the transverse and longitudinal dielectric constants in the frequency range under consideration. This book is a valuable resource for solid state physicists. Readers and researchers with interest in the electron and optical properties of semiconductors and insulators will also find this book useful.

The second edition of this successful textbook provides an up-to-date account of the optical physics of solid state materials. The basic principles of absorption, reflection, luminescence, and light scattering are covered for a wide range of materials, including insulators, semiconductors and metals. The text starts with a review of classical optics, and then moves on to the treatment of optical transition rates by quantum theory. In addition to the traditional discussion of crystalline materials, glasses and molecular solids are also covered. The first edition included a number of subjects that are not normally covered in standard texts, notably semiconductor quantum wells, molecular materials, vibronic solid state lasers, and nonlinear optics. The basic structure of the second edition is unchanged, but all of the chapters have been updated and improved. Futhermore, a number of important new topics have been added, including: · Optical control of spin · Quantum dots · Plasmonics · Negative refraction · Carbon nanostructures (graphene, nanotubes and fullerenes) · NV centres in diamond The text is aimed at final year undergraduates, masters students and researchers. It is mainly written for physicists, but might also be useful for electrical engineers, materials scientists and physical chemists. The topics are written in a clear tutorial style with worked examples, chapter summaries and exercises. A solutions manual is available on request for instructors.

The reader is holding the second volume of a three-volume textbook on sol- state physics. This book is the outgrowth of the courses I have taught for many years at Eötvös University, Budapest, for undergraduate and graduate students under the titles Solid-State Physics and Modern Solid-State Physics. The main motivation for the publication of my lecture notes as a book was that none of the truly numerous textbooks covered all those areas that I felt should be included in a multi-semester course. Especially, if the course strives to present solid-state physics in a uni?ed structure, and aims at d- cussing not only classic chapters of the subject matter but also (in more or less detail) problems that are of great interest for today’s researcher as well. Besides, the book presents a much larger material than what can be covered in a two- or three-semester course. In the ?rst part of the ?rst volume the analysis of crystal symmetries and structure goes into details that certainly cannot be included in a usual course on solid-state physics. The same applies, among others, to the discussion of the methods used in the determination of band structure, the properties of Fermi liquids and non-Fermi liquids, and the theory of unconventional superconductors in the present and third volumes. These parts can be assigned as supplementary reading for interested students, or can be discussed in advanced courses.

This monograph is concerned with the III-V bulk and low-dimensional semiconductors, with the emphasis on the implications of multi-valley bandstructures for the physical mechanisms essential for opto-electronic devices. The optical response of such semiconductor materials is determined by many-body effects such as screening, gap narrowing, Fermi-edge singularity, electron-hole plasma and liquid formation. Consequently, the discussion of these features reflects such interdependencies with the dynamics of excitons and carriers resulting from intervalley coupling.

Semiconductors are at the heart of modern living. Almost everything we do, be it work, travel, communication, or entertainment, all depend on some feature of semiconductor technology. Comprehensive Semiconductor Science and Technology, Six Volume Set captures the breadth of this important field, and presents it in a single source to the large audience who study, make, and exploit semiconductors. Previous attempts at this achievement have been abbreviated, and have omitted important topics. Written and Edited by a truly international team of experts, this work delivers an objective yet cohesive global review of the semiconductor world. The work is divided into three sections. The first section is concerned with the fundamental physics of semiconductors, showing how the electronic features and the lattice dynamics change drastically when systems vary from bulk to a low-dimensional structure and further to a nanometer size. Throughout this section there is an emphasis on the full understanding of the underlying physics. The second section deals largely with the transformation of the conceptual framework of solid state physics into devices and systems which require the growth of extremely high purity, nearly defect-free bulk and epitaxial materials. The last section is devoted to exploitation of the knowledge described in the previous sections to highlight the spectrum of devices we see all around us. Provides a comprehensive global picture of the semiconductor world Each of the work's three sections presents a complete description of one aspect of the whole Written and Edited by a truly international team of experts

This book details the application of the OLCAO method for calculating the properties of solids from fundamental principles to a wide array of material systems. The method specializes in large and complex models and is able to compute a variety of useful properties including electronic, optical, and spectroscopic properties.

The authors of this book present a thorough discussion of the optical properties of solids, with a focus on electron states and their response to electrodynamic fields. A review of the fundamental aspects of the propagation of electromagnetic fields, and their interaction with condensed matter, is given. This is followed by a discussion of the optical properties of metals, semiconductors, and collective states of solids such as superconductors. Theoretical concepts, measurement techniques and experimental results are covered in three interrelated sections. Well-established, mature fields are discussed (for example, classical metals and semiconductors) together with modern topics at the focus of current interest. The substantial reference list included will also prove to be a valuable resource for those interested in the electronic properties of solids. The book is intended for use by advanced undergraduate and graduate students, and researchers active in the fields of condensed matter physics, materials science and optical engineering.