Advances in the synthesis of new materials with often complex, nano-scaled structures require increasingly sophisticated experimental techniques that can probe the electronic states, the atomic magnetic moments and the magnetic microstructures responsible for the properties of these materials. At the same time, progress in synchrotron radiation techniques has ensured that these light sources remain a key tool of investigation, e.g. synchrotron radiation sources of the third generation are able to support magnetic imaging on a sub-micrometer scale. With the Sixth Mittelwihr School on Magnetism and Synchrotron Radiation the tradition of teaching the state-of-the-art on modern research developments continues and is expressed through the present set of extensive lectures provided in this volume. While primarily aimed at postgraduate students and newcomers to the field, this volume will also benefit researchers and lecturers actively working in the field.

This book covers in a textbook-like fashion the basics or organic solar cells, addressing the limits of photovoltaic energy conversion and giving a well-illustrated introduction to molecular electronics with focus on the working principle and characterization of organic solar cells. Further chapters based on the author's dissertation focus on the electrical processes in organic solar cells by presenting a detailed drift-diffusion approach to describe exciton separation and charge-carrier transport and extraction. The results, although elaborated on small-molecule solar cells and with focus on the zinc phthalocyanine: C60 material system, are of general nature. They propose and demonstrate experimental approaches for getting a deeper understanding of the dominating processes in amorphous thin-film based solar cells in general. The main focus is on the interpretation of the current-voltage characteristics (J-V curve). This very standard measurement technique for a solar cell reflects the electrical processes in the device. Comparing experimental to simulation data, the author discusses the reasons for S-Shaped J-V curves, the role of charge carrier mobilities and energy barriers at interfaces, the dominating recombination mechanisms, the charge carrier generation profile, and other efficiency-limiting processes in organic solar cells. The book concludes with an illustrative guideline on how to identify reasons for changes in the J-V curve. This book is a suitable introduction for students in engineering, physics, material science, and chemistry starting in the field of organic or hybrid thin-film photovoltaics. It is just as valuable for professionals and experimentalists who analyze solar cell devices.

This thesis breaks new ground in the physics of photonic circuits for quantum optical applications. The photonic circuits are based either on ridge waveguides or photonic crystals, with embedded quantum dots providing the single qubit, quantum optical emitters. The highlight of the thesis is the first demonstration of a spin-photon interface using an all-waveguide geometry, a vital component of a quantum optical circuit, based on deterministic single photon emission from a single quantum dot. The work makes a further important contribution to the field by demonstrating the effects and limitations that inevitable disorder places on photon propagation in photonic crystal waveguides, a further key component of quantum optical circuits. Overall the thesis offers a number of highly novel contributions to the field; those on chip circuits may prove to be the only means of scaling up the highly promising quantum-dot-based quantum information technology.

This monograph solely investigates the Debye Screening Length (DSL) in semiconductors and their nano-structures. The materials considered are quantized structures of non-linear optical, III-V, II-VI, Ge, Te, Platinum Antimonide, stressed materials, Bismuth, GaP, Gallium Antimonide, II-V and Bismuth Telluride respectively. The DSL in opto-electronic materials and their quantum confined counterparts is studied in the presence of strong light waves and intense electric fields on the basis of newly formulated electron dispersion laws that control the studies of such quantum effect devices. The suggestions for the experimental determination of 2D and 3D DSL and the importance of measurement of band gap in optoelectronic materials under intense built-in electric field in nano devices and strong external photo excitation (for measuring photon induced physical properties) have also been discussed in this context. The influence of crossed electric and quantizing magnetic fields on the DSL and the DSL in heavily doped semiconductors and their nanostructures has been investigated. This monograph contains 150 open research problems which form the integral part of the text and are useful for both PhD students and researchers in the fields of solid-state sciences, materials science, nano-science and technology and allied fields in addition to the graduate courses in modern semiconductor nanostructures.

This book provides the analytical theory of complex systems composed of a large number of high-Q dielectric resonators. Spherical and cylindrical dielectric resonators with inferior and also whispering gallery oscillations allocated in various lattices are considered. A new approach to S-matrix parameter calculations based on perturbation theory of Maxwell equations, developed for a number of high-Q dielectric bodies, is introduced. All physical relationships are obtained in analytical form and are suitable for further computations. Essential attention is given to a new unified formalism of the description of scattering processes. The general scattering task for coupled eigen oscillations of the whole system of dielectric resonators is described. The equations for the expansion coefficients are explained in an applicable way. The temporal Green functions for the dielectric resonator are presented. The scattering process of short pulses in dielectric filter structures, dielectric antennas and lattices of dielectric resonators is discussed.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art in group III-nitride based ultraviolet LED and laser technologies, covering different substrate approaches, a review of optical, electronic and structural properties of InAlGaN materials as well as various optoelectronic components. In addition, the book gives an overview of a number of key application areas for UV emitters and detectors, including water purification, phototherapy, sensing, and UV curing. The book is written for researchers and graduate level students in the area of semiconductor materials, optoelectronics and devices as well as developers and engineers in the various application fields of UV emitters and detectors.

This book provides the reader with an introduction to the physics of complex plasmas, a discussion of the specific scientific and technical challenges they present and an overview of their potential technological applications. Complex plasmas differ from conventional high-temperature plasmas in several ways: they may contain additional species, including nano meter- to micrometer-sized particles, negative ions, molecules and radicals and they may exhibit strong correlations or quantum effects. This book introduces the classical and quantum mechanical approaches used to describe and simulate complex plasmas. It also covers some key experimental techniques used in the analysis of these plasmas, including calorimetric probe methods, IR absorption techniques and X-ray absorption spectroscopy. The final part of the book reviews the emerging applications of microcavity and microchannel plasmas, the synthesis and assembly of nanomaterials through plasma electrochemistry, the large-scale generation of ozone using microplasmas and novel applications of atmospheric-pressure non-thermal plasmas in dentistry. Going beyond the scope of traditional plasma texts, the presentation is very well suited for senior undergraduate, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers specializing in plasma physics.

Topological Insulators (TIs) are insulators in the bulk, but have exotic metallic states at their surfaces. The topology, associated with the electronic wavefunctions of these systems, changes when passing from the bulk to the surface. This work studies, by means of infrared spectroscopy, the low energy optical conductivity of Bismuth based TIs in order to identify the extrinsic charge contribution of the bulk and to separate it from the intrinsic contribution of the surface state carriers. The extensive results presented in this thesis definitely shows the 2D character of the carriers in Bismuth-based topological insulators. The experimental apparatus and the FTIR technique, the theory of optical properties and Surface Plasmon Polaritons, as well as sample preparation of both crystals and thin films, and the analysis procedures are thoroughly described.

The minimum temperature in the natural universe is 2.7 K. Laboratory refrigerators can reach temperatures in the microkelvin range. Modern industrial refrigerators cool foods at 200 K, whereas space mission payloads must be capable of working at temperatures as low as 20 K. Superconducting magnets used for NMR work at 4.2 K. Hence the properties of materials must be accurately known also at cryogenic temperatures. This book provides a guide for engineers, physicists, chemists, technicians who wish to approach the field of low-temperature material properties. The focus is on the thermal properties and a large spectrum of experimental cases is reported. The book presents updated tables of low-temperature data on materials and a thorough bibliography supplements any further research. Key Features include: Degrees Detailed technical description of experiments Degrees Description of the newest cryogenic apparatus Degrees Offers data on cryogenic properties of the latest new materials Degrees Current reference review

In this thesis the author presents the results of extensive spectroscopy experiments beyond the bounds of each transition element to clarify the origins of characteristic spectral features and charge dynamics in charge-spin-orbital coupled phenomena in Mott-transition oxides. Several counterpart 3d transition-metal oxides were adopted as model systems suitable for examining the mechanisms involved, and their electronic structures were systematically investigated using three main spectroscopy methods. Comparative studies on the charge dynamics and Mott transition features of transition-metal oxides were performed: Charge dynamics and thermoelectricity in a typical Mott transition system La1 xSrxVO3, charge dynamics in a doped valence-bond solid system (Ti1 xVx)2O3 and in layered nickelates R2-xSrxNiO4 with charge-ordering instability are investigated thoroughly. The results obtained successfully provide a number of novel insights into the emergent phenomena near the Mott transition.

This thesis focuses on two areas - the development of miniature plastic lasers that can be powered by LEDs, and the application of these lasers as highly sensitive sensors for vapours of nitroaromatic explosives (e.g. TNT). Polymer lasers are extremely compact visible lasers; the research described in the thesis is groundbreaking, driving forward the technology and physical understanding to allow these lasers to be routinely pumped by a single high-power LED. A notable advance in the work is the demonstration of nanoimprinted polymer lasers, which exhibit the world's lowest pump threshold densities by two orders of magnitude. The thesis also advances the application of these compact, novel lasers as highly sensitive detectors of explosive vapours, demonstrating that rapid detection can be achieved when microporous polymers are used. This work also demonstrates a prototype CMOS-based microsystem sensor for explosive vapours, exploiting a new detection approach.

Neutron stars are the most compact astronomical objects in the universe which are accessible by direct observation. Studying neutron stars means studying physics in regimes unattainable in any terrestrial laboratory. Understanding their observed complex phenomena requires a wide range of scientific disciplines, including the nuclear and condensed matter physics of very dense matter in neutron star interiors, plasma physics and quantum electrodynamics of magnetospheres, and the relativistic magneto-hydrodynamics of electron-positron pulsar winds interacting with some ambient medium. Not to mention the test bed neutron stars provide for general relativity theories, and their importance as potential sources of gravitational waves. It is this variety of disciplines which, among others, makes neutron star research so fascinating, not only for those who have been working in the field for many years but also for students and young scientists. The aim of this book is to serve as a reference work which not only reviews the progress made since the early days of pulsar astronomy, but especially focuses on questions such as: "What have we learned about the subject and how did we learn it?", "What are the most important open questions in this area?" and "What new tools, telescopes, observations, and calculations are needed to answer these questions?". All authors who have contributed to this book have devoted a significant part of their scientific careers to exploring the nature of neutron stars and understanding pulsars. Everyone has paid special attention to writing educational comprehensive review articles with the needs of beginners, students and young scientists as potential readers in mind. This book will be a valuable source of information for these groups.

This book gives a survey of the current state of the art of a special class of nitrides semiconductors, Wurtzite Nitride and Oxide Semiconductors. It includes properties, growth and applications. Research in the area of nitrides semiconductors is still booming although some basic materials sciences issues were solved already about 20 years ago. With the advent of modern technologies and the successful growth of nitride substrates, these materials currently experience a second birth. Advanced new applications like light-emitters, including UV operating LEDs, normally on and normally off high frequency operating transistors are expected. With progress in clean room technology, advanced photonic and quantum optic applications are envisioned in a close future. This area of research is fascinating for researchers and students in materials science, electrical engineering, chemistry, electronics, physics and biophysics. This book aims to be the ad-hoc instrument to this active field of research.

This book provides a state of the art report of the knowledge accumulated in graphene research. The fascination with graphene has been growing very rapidly in recent years and the physics of graphene is now becoming one of the most interesting as well as the most fast-moving topics in condensed-matter physics. The Nobel prize in physics awarded in 2010 has given a tremendous impetus to this topic. The horizon of the physics of graphene is ever becoming wider, where physical concepts go hand in hand with advances in experimental techniques. Thus this book is expanding the interests to not only transport but optical and other properties for systems that include multilayer as well as monolayer graphene systems. The book comprises experimental and theoretical knowledge. The book is also accessible to graduate students.

This book presents the dispersion relation in heavily doped nano-structures. The materials considered are III-V, II-VI, IV-VI, GaP, Ge, Platinum Antimonide, stressed, GaSb, Te, II-V, HgTe/CdTe superlattices and Bismuth Telluride semiconductors. The dispersion relation is discussed under magnetic quantization and on the basis of carrier energy spectra. The influences of magnetic field, magneto inversion, and magneto nipi structures on nano-structures is analyzed. The band structure of optoelectronic materials changes with photo-excitation in a fundamental way according to newly formulated electron dispersion laws. They control the quantum effect in optoelectronic devices in the presence of light. The measurement of band gaps in optoelectronic materials in the presence of external photo-excitation is displayed. The influences of magnetic quantization, crossed electric and quantizing fields, intense electric fields on the on the dispersion relation in heavily doped semiconductors and super-lattices are also discussed. This book contains 200 open research problems which form the integral part of the text and are useful for graduate students and researchers. The book is written for post graduate students, researchers and engineers.

This thesis combines highly accurate optical spectroscopy data on the recently discovered iron-based high-temperature superconductors with an incisive theoretical analysis. Three outstanding results are reported: (1) The superconductivity-induced modification of the far-infrared conductivity of an iron arsenide with minimal chemical disorder is quantitatively described by means of a strong-coupling theory for spin fluctuation mediated Cooper pairing. The formalism developed in this thesis also describes prior spectroscopic data on more disordered compounds. (2) The same materials exhibit a sharp superconductivity-induced anomaly for photon energies around 2.5 eV, two orders of magnitude larger than the superconducting energy gap. The author provides a qualitative interpretation of this unprecedented observation, which is based on the multiband nature of the superconducting state. (3) The thesis also develops a comprehensive description of a superconducting, yet optically transparent iron chalcogenide compound. The author shows that this highly unusual behavior can be explained as a result of the nanoscopic coexistence of insulating and superconducting phases, and he uses a combination of two complementary experimental methods - scanning near-field optical microscopy and low-energy muon spin rotation - to directly image the phase coexistence and quantitatively determine the phase composition. These data have important implications for the interpretation of data from other experimental probes.

Quantum dots as nanomaterials have been extensively investigated in the past several decades from growth to characterization to applications. As the basis of future developments in the field, this book collects a series of state-of-the-art chapters on the current status of quantum dot devices and how these devices take advantage of quantum features. Written by 56 leading experts from 14 countries, the chapters cover numerous quantum dot applications, including lasers, LEDs, detectors, amplifiers, switches, transistors, and solar cells. Quantum Dot Devices is appropriate for researchers of all levels of experience with an interest in epitaxial and/or colloidal quantum dots. It provides the beginner with the necessary overview of this exciting field and those more experienced with a comprehensive reference source.

The two volumes of Handbook of Gas Sensor Materials provide a detailed and comprehensive account of materials for gas sensors, including the properties and relative advantages of various materials. Since these sensors can be applied for the automation of myriad industrial processes, as well as for everyday monitoring of such activities as public safety, engine performance, medical therapeutics, and in many other situations, this handbook is of great value. Gas sensor designers will find a treasure trove of material in these two books.

Semiconductor nanostructures such as nanowires are promising building blocks of future nanoelectronic, nanophotonic and nanosensing devices. Their physical properties are primarily determined by the epitaxy process which is rather different from the conventional thin film growth. This book shows how the advanced nucleation theory can be used in modeling of growth properties, morphology and crystal phase of such nanostructures. The book represents a systematic account of modern nucleation theory in open systems, nanostructure nucleation and growth mechanisms, and possibilities for tuning the nanostructure properties to the desired values.

This book deals with basic aspects of polymer electronics and optoelectronics. There is an enormous world-wide effort both in basic scientific research as well as in industrial development in the area of organic electronics. It is becoming increasingly clear that, if devices based on organic materials are ever going to have a significant relevance beyond being a cheap replacement for inorganic semiconductors, there will be a need to understand interface formation, film growth and functionality. A control of these aspects will allow the realisation of totally new device concepts exploiting the enormous flexibility inherent in organic chemistry. In this book we focus on oligomeric/molecular films as we believe that the control of molecular structures and interfaces provides highly defined systems which allow, on the one hand the study of the basic physics and on the other hand to find the important parameters necessary to improve organic devices.

Synchrotron radiation is today extensively used for fundamental and applied research in many different fields of science. Its exceptional characteristics in terms of intensity, brilliance, spectral range, time structure and now also coherence pushed many experimental techniques to previously un-reachable limits, enabling the performance of experiments unbelievable only few years ago. The book gives an up-to-date overview of synchrotron radiation research today with a view to the future, starting from its generation and sources, its interaction with matter, illustrating the main experimental technique employed and provides an overview of the main fields of research in which new and innovative results are obtained. The book is addressed to PhD students and young researchers to provide both an introductory and a rather deep knowledge of the field. It will also be helpful to experienced researcher who want to approach the field in a professional way.

This book provides an overview of the techniques and tools of nanostructure fabrication from state-of-the-art lithography to emerging self-assembly approaches. Top-down and bottom-up methodologies along with hybrid approaches are used to illustrate the fabrication of structures including integrated circuits, semiconductor quantum dots, metallic nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, molecular structures, nanocomposites, arrays and superstructures. Nanofabrication applications in nanoelectronics, biotechnology, nanomechanical devices and nanophotonics will be examined. This brief will present the core concepts of nanofabrication relevant to researchers and industry in this important and rapidly evolving area.

This book describes the basic physics of semiconductors, including the hierarchy of transport models, and connects the theory with the functioning of actual semiconductor devices. Details are worked out carefully and derived from the basic physics, while keeping the internal coherence of the concepts and explaining various levels of approximation. Examples are based on silicon due to its industrial importance. Several chapters are included that provide the reader with the quantum-mechanical concepts necessary for understanding the transport properties of crystals. The behavior of crystals incorporating a position-dependent impurity distribution is described, and the different hierarchical transport models for semiconductor devices are derived (from the Boltzmann transport equation to the hydrodynamic and drift-diffusion models). The transport models are then applied to a detailed description of the main semiconductor-device architectures (bipolar, MOS). The final chapters are devoted to the description of some basic fabrication steps, and to measuring methods for the semiconductor-device parameters.

Ge and III–V compounds, semiconductors with high carrier mobilities, are candidates to replace Si as the channel in MOS devices. 2D materials – like graphene and MoS_2 – are also envisioned to replace Si in the future. This thesis is devoted to the first-principles modeling of the vibrational properties of these novel channel materials. The first part of the thesis focuses on the vibrational properties of various oxides on Ge, making it possible to identify the vibrational signature of specific defects which could hamper the proper functioning of MOSFETs. The second part of the thesis reports on the electronic and vibrational properties of novel 2D materials like silicene and germanene, the Si and Ge 2D counterparts of graphene. The interaction of these 2D materials with metallic and non-metallic substrates is investigated. It was predicted, for the first time, and later experimentally confirmed, that silicene could be grown on a non-metallic template like MoS_2, a breakthrough that could open the door to the possible use of silicene in future nanoelectronic devices.

Technological advances in the field of materials, devices, circuits, and systems began by the discovery of new properties of objects, or the entrepreneurship with the applications of unique or practical concepts for commercial goods. To implement products using these findings and challenges textbook knowledge is usually sufficient. Semiconductor Technologies in the Era of Electronics therefore does not aim to look deeper in certain areas but it offers a broad and comprehensive overview of the field to: - Experts of specific knowledge who want to expand the overall understanding to different areas - Persons who wish to understand the principle of electronic devices often seen in everyday life - Entrepreneurs interested in the innovations and changes of semiconductor technologies and overall electronics industry A profound and theoretical approach is therefore used and special cases essential to understanding these important concept are presented.