L.V. Keldysh – författare

The textbook we offer to the reader is based on a two-term course of lec­ tures, "Electromagnetic Response of Material Media," that the authors gave for a number of years to the final-year students of the Physics Depart­ ment of Moscow University. This course built on courses in quantum electronics, nonlinear optics and theoretical fundamentals of quantum radiophysics; students are as­ sumed to have mastered the fundamentals of quantum mechanics, laser physics and nonlinear optics. The essential core of the course, and hence of the book, is the current general theory of electromagnetic response of a nonrelativistic medium. The main aspects are presented in Chapters 1 and 2. The second part is devoted to more traditional topics which students learn in this course of lectures and also in the course "Condensed Matter Physics" for students who choose to major in radiophysics and laser physics; this course is also taught by the authors at the Physics Department. This volume was intended as a text for students and, as such, does not cite original publications. We decided to provide a list of additional recommended literature, mostly of well known, easily accessible textbooks.

Much progress has been made in the understanding of the general properties of the dielectric function and in the calculation of this quantity for many classes of media. This volume gathers together the considerable information available and presents a detailed overview of the present status of the theory of electromagnetic response functions, whilst simultaneously covering a wide range of problems in its application to condensed matter physics.The following subjects are covered:- the dielectric function of the homogeneous electron gas, of crystalline systems, and of inhomogeneous matter; - electromagnetic fluctuations and molecular forces in condensed matter; - electrodynamics of superlattices.

The textbook we offer to the reader is based on a two-term course of lec­ tures, "Electromagnetic Response of Material Media," that the authors gave for a number of years to the final-year students of the Physics Depart­ ment of Moscow University. This course built on courses in quantum electronics, nonlinear optics and theoretical fundamentals of quantum radiophysics; students are as­ sumed to have mastered the fundamentals of quantum mechanics, laser physics and nonlinear optics. The essential core of the course, and hence of the book, is the current general theory of electromagnetic response of a nonrelativistic medium. The main aspects are presented in Chapters 1 and 2. The second part is devoted to more traditional topics which students learn in this course of lectures and also in the course "Condensed Matter Physics" for students who choose to major in radiophysics and laser physics; this course is also taught by the authors at the Physics Department. This volume was intended as a text for students and, as such, does not cite original publications. We decided to provide a list of additional recommended literature, mostly of well known, easily accessible textbooks.