Semiconductor Optics and Transport Phenomena (Hardcover)

This introduction to the field of semiconductor optics, including transport phenomena in semiconductors, has its origin in an advanced course jointly given by a theoretician and an experimentalist. Starting with the theoretical fundamentals of this field the book develops, assuming a basic knowledge of solid-state physics. The text is suitable for graduates and scientists alike who need a well-balanced and up-to-date introduction to this area. The application areas of the theory covered include semiconductor lasers, detectors, electro-optic modulators, single-electron transistors, microcavities and double-barrier resonant tunneling diodes. One hundred problems with hints for solution help the readers to deepen their knowledge.

FROM THE REVIEWS:

PHYSICS TODAY
"The rapid pace of discovery in semiconductor physics makes it difficult to initiate neophytes to the field . . . With Semiconductor Optics and Transport Phenomena, Wilfried Schäfer and Martin Wegener have come to the rescue . . . The authors are important figures in semiconductor optics. Schäfer has made definitive contributions to the theory of interacting electrons and collaborated with experimentalists to explain exciton dynamics under ultrafast optical excitation. Wegener is prominently known for his experimental exploration of the new world of exciton dynamics in the first few femtoseconds of their creation. The collaboration of a theorist and an experimentalist in this book fulfills the authors' intent to synthesize theory and empiricism. It is delightful to find that, after reading about the Bloch theory, one can understand the four-wave mixing experiment and measurements of the dephasing time . . . The text covers basic electron properties, optics, and transport. The optics part provides important paradigms of decoherence and of nonequilibrium physics, both of which are essential to the modern physics of the small . . . I recommend Schäfer and Wegener's timely and pioneering text for a cohesive presentation of modern semiconductor physics."

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Some Basic Facts on Semiconductors. Interaction of Matter and Electromagnetic Fields. One-Particle Properties. Uncorrelated Optical Transitions. Correlated Transitions of Bloch-Electrons. Correlated Transitions Near The Band Edge. Influence of Static Magnetic Fields. Influence of Static Electric Fields. Biexcitons. Nonequilibrium Green's Functions. The Electron-Phonon Interaction. Scattering and Screening Processes. The Semiconductor Laser. Classical Transport. Electric Fields in Mesoscopic Systems. Electric and Magnetic Fields in Mesoscopic Systems,