Claude Weisbuch - Böcker

In its original form, this widely acclaimed primer on the fundamentals of quantized semiconductor structures was published as an introductory chapter in Raymond Dingle's edited volume (24) of Semiconductors and Semimetals. Having already been praised by reviewers for its excellent coverage, this material is now available in an updated and expanded "student edition." This work promises to become a standard reference in the field. It covers the basics of electronic states as well as the fundamentals of optical interactions and quantum transport in two-dimensional quantized systems. This revised student edition also includes entirely new sections discussing applications and one-dimensional and zero-dimensional systems.

The optical properties of semiconductors have played an important role since the identification of semiconductors as "small" bandgap materials in the thinies, due both to their fundamental interest as a class of solids baving specific optical propenies and to their many important applications. On the former aspect we can cite the fundamental edge absorption and its assignment to direct or indirect transitions, many-body effects as revealed by exciton formation and photoconductivity. On the latter aspect, large-scale applications sucb as LEDs and lasers, photovoltaic converters, photodetectors, electro-optics and non-linear optic devices, come to mind. The eighties saw a revitalization of the whole field due to the advent of heterostructures of lower-dimensionality, mainly two-dimensional quantum wells, which through their enhanced photon-matter interaction yielded new devices with unsurpassed performance. Although many of the basic phenomena were evidenced through the seventies, it was this impact on applications which in turn led to such a massive investment in fabrication tools, thanks to which many new structures and materials were studied, yielding funher advances in fundamental physics.

The control of optical modes by periodic dielectric structures and microcavities many believe will provide the performance improvements required for the next generation of light emitting diodes, semiconductor lasers and displays. This volume brings together reviews of microcavity physics, studies of novel two and three-dimensional photonic bandgap materials, and quantum optical studies of strong coupling between the cavity mode and various light emitters. The broad coverage provides a reference text suitable for graduate students and researchers in the field of optical and solid state physics. This volume comprises the proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on "Quantum Optics in Wave length Scale Structures", that took place in Cargese, Corsica, between August 26-September 2, 1995.

The optical properties of semiconductors have played an important role since the identification of semiconductors as "small" bandgap materials in the thinies, due both to their fundamental interest as a class of solids baving specific optical propenies and to their many important applications.

Low-dimensional materials are of fundamental interest in physics and chemistry and have also found a wide variety of technological applica­ tions in fields ranging from microelectronics to optics. Since 1986, several seminars and summer schools devoted to low-dimensional systems have been supported by NATO. The present one, Physics, Fabrication and Applications of Multilayered structures, brought together specialists from different fields in order to review fabrication techniques, charac­ terization methods, physics and applications. Artificially layered materials are attractive because alternately layering two (or more) elements, by evaporation or sputtering, is a way to obtain new materials with (hopefully) new physical properties that pure materials or alloys do not allow. These new possibilities can be ob­ tained in electronic transport, optics, magnetism or the reflectivity of x-rays and slow neutrons. By changing the components and the thickness of the layers one can track continuously how the new properties appear and follow the importance of the multilayer structure of the materials. In addition, with their large number of interfaces the study of inter­ face properties becomes easier in multilayered structures than in mono­ layers or bilayers. As a rule, the role of the interface quality, and also the coupling between layers, increases as the thickness of the layer decreases. Several applications at the development stage require layer thicknesses of just a few atomic layers.

les Houches This Winter School on "The Physics and Fabrication of Microstructures" originated with a European industrial decision to investigate in some detail the potential of custom-designed microstructures for new devices. Beginning in 1985, GEC and THOMSON started a collaboration on these subjects, supported by an ESPRIT grant from the Commission of the European Com­ munity. To the outside observer of the whole field, it appears clear that the world effort is very largely based in the United States and Japan. It also appears that cooperation and dissemination of results are very well organised outside Europe and act as a major influence on the development of new concepts and devices. In Japan, a main research programme of the Research and Development for Basic Technology for Future Industries is focused on "Future Electron Devices". In Japan and in the United States, many workshops are organised annually in order to bring together the major specialists in industry and academia, allowing fast dissemination of advances and contacts for setting up cooperative efforts.

This set of lecture notes provides a detailed and up-to-date description of a field undergoing explosive growth, that of confined photon systems in the shape of microcavities or photonic crystals. Bringing together world leaders in the field, it provides all the basic tools needed to master a subject which will have both major impact in fundamental studies and widescale applications. Confined photon systems enable the study of low-dimensional photonic systems, modified light-matter interaction, e.g. between excitons and photons in all-solid-state semiconductor microcavities, and of many phenomena of quantum optics, including single photon generation, squeezed light, quantum state entanglement, non-local quantum measurements, and, potentially, quantum computation. They are also on the verge of yielding new, high performance optical devices for large-scale industries such as telecommunications and display technology.