This book, part of the Series on Semiconductor Science and Technology, is aimed at undergraduate and graduate students in physics as well as readers with a general physics background. All such readers will benefit greatly from this volume. Students, in particular, will appreciate the short biographical sketches of the giants of physics on whose shoulders the present generation of physicists stand ... Mastering this volume will ensure that the reader is able to fully appreciate the significance of continuing research in microcavities and their applications.

• 1. Overview of microcavities ; 2. Classical description of light ; 3. Quantum description of light ; 4. Semi-classical description of light-matter coupling ; 5. Quantum description of light-matter coupling in semiconductors ; 6. Weak-coupling microcavities ; 7. Strong coupling: resonant effects ; 8. Strong coupling: polariton Bose condensation ; 9. Spin and polarisation ; Appendices ; Index