This book contains all the papers presented at the NATO workshop on "Optical Switching in Low Dimensional Systems" held in Marbella, Spain from October 6th to 8th, 1988. Optical switching is a basic function for optical data processing, which is of technological interest because of its potential parallelism and its potential speed. Semiconductors which exhibit resonance enhanced optical nonlinearities in the frequency range close to the band edge are the most intensively studied materials for optical bistability and fast gate operation. Modern crystal growth techniques, particularly molecular beam epitaxy, allow the manufacture of semiconductor microstructures such as quantum wells, quantum wires and quantum dots in which the electrons are only free to move in two, one or zero dimensions, of the optically excited electron-hole pairs in these low respectively. The spatial confinement dimensional structures gives rise to an enhancement of the excitonic nonlinearities. Furthermore, the variations of the microstruture extensions, of the compositions, and of the doping offer great new flexibility in engineering the desired optical properties. Recently, organic chain molecules (such as polydiacetilene) which are different realizations of one dimensional electronic systems, have been shown also to have interesting optical nonlinearities. Both the development and study of optical and electro-optical devices, as well as experimental and theoretical investigations of the underlying optical nonlinearities, are contained in this book.

The state-of-the-art of quantum transport and quantum kinetics in semiconductors, plus the latest applications, are covered in this monograph. Since the publishing of the first edition in 1996, the nonequilibrium Green function technique has been applied to a large number of new research topics, and the revised edition introduces the reader to many of these areas. This book is both a reference work for researchers and a self-tutorial for graduate students.

The state-of-the-art of quantum transport and quantum kinetics in semiconductors, plus the latest applications, are covered in this monograph. Since the publishing of the first edition in 1996, the nonequilibrium Green function technique has been applied to a large number of new research topics, and the revised edition introduces the reader to many of these areas. This book is both a reference work for researchers and a self-tutorial for graduate students.

Statistische Physik ist eine der Hauptvorlesungen im Physikstudium. Sie stellt die Grundlagen fur die Thermodynamik bereit, und ist notwendig zur Beschreibung aller physikalischer Prozesse, an denen viele Teilchen beteiligt sind. Das Buch setzt nur geringe Kenntnisse der phanomenologischen Thermodynamik und der Quantenmechanik voraus. Es entwickelt in zwei Teilen die Statistik von physikalischen Systemen im Gleichgewicht und ausserhalb des Gleichgewichts. Sowohl klassische Systeme als auch entartete Quantensysteme werden anhand konkreter Beispiele vorgestellt. So versteht der Leser, wie physikalische Eigenschaften berechnet werden.

This invaluable textbook presents the basic elements needed to understand and research into semiconductor physics. It deals with elementary excitations in bulk and low-dimensional semiconductors, including quantum wells, quantum wires and quantum dots. The basic principles underlying optical nonlinearities are developed, including excitonic and many-body plasma effects. Fundamentals of optical bistability, semiconductor lasers, femtosecond excitation, the optical Stark effect, the semiconductor photon echo, magneto-optic effects, as well as bulk and quantum-confined FranzKeldysh effects, are covered. The material is presented in sufficient detail for graduate students and researchers with a general background in quantum mechanics.

This fifth edition includes an additional chapter on 'Quantum Optical Effects' where the theory of quantum optical effects in semiconductors is detailed. Besides deriving the 'semiconductor luminescence equations' and the expression for the stationary luminescence spectrum, the results are presented to show the importance of Coulombic effects on the semiconductor luminescence and to elucidate the role of excitonic populations.

This invaluable textbook presents the basic elements needed to understand and research into semiconductor physics. It deals with elementary excitations in bulk and low-dimensional semiconductors, including quantum wells, quantum wires and quantum dots. The basic principles underlying optical nonlinearities are developed, including excitonic and many-body plasma effects. Fundamentals of optical bistability, semiconductor lasers, femtosecond excitation, the optical Stark effect, the semiconductor photon echo, magneto-optic effects, as well as bulk and quantum-confined FranzKeldysh effects, are covered. The material is presented in sufficient detail for graduate students and researchers with a general background in quantum mechanics.

This fifth edition includes an additional chapter on 'Quantum Optical Effects' where the theory of quantum optical effects in semiconductors is detailed. Besides deriving the 'semiconductor luminescence equations' and the expression for the stationary luminescence spectrum, the results are presented to show the importance of Coulombic effects on the semiconductor luminescence and to elucidate the role of excitonic populations.

This textbook presents the basic elements needed to understand and engage in research in semiconductor physics. It deals with elementary excitations in bulk and low-dimensional semiconductors, including quantum wells, quantum wires and quantum dots. The basic principles underlying optical nonlinearities are developed, including excitonic and many-body plasma effects. The fundamentals of optical bistability, semiconductor lasers, femtosecond excitation, optical Stark effect, semiconductor photon echo, magneto-optic effects, as well as bulk and quantum-confined Franz-Keldysh effects are covered. The material is presented in sufficient detail for graduate students and researchers who have a general background in quantum mechanics.

The current technological revolution in the development of computing devices has created a demand for a textbook on the quantum theory of the electronic and optical properties of semiconductors and semiconductor devices. This book successfully fulfills this need. Based on lectures given by the authors, it is a comprehensive introduction for researchers or graduate-level students to the subject. Certain sections can also serve as a graduate-level textbook for use in solid state physics courses or for more specialized courses. The final chapters establish a direct link to current research in semiconductor physics.