Provides the theoretical background needed by physicists, engineers and students to simulate nano-devices, semiconductor quantum dots and molecular devices. It presents in a unified way the theoretical concepts, the more recent semi-empirical and ab initio methods, and their application to experiments. The topics include quantum confinement, dielectric and optical properties, non-radiative processes, defects and impurities, and quantum transport. This guidebook not only provides newcomers with an accessible overview (requiring only basic knowledge of quantum mechanics and solid-state physics) but also provides active researchers with practical simulation tools.

Surfaces and interfaces play an increasingly important role in today's solid state devices. In this book the reader is introduced, in a didactic manner, to the essential theoretical aspects of the atomic and electronic structure of surfaces and interfaces. The book does not pretend to give a complete overview of contemporary problems and methods. Instead, the authors strive to provide simple but qualitatively useful arguments that apply to a wide variety of cases. The emphasis of the book is on semiconductor surfaces and interfaces but it also includes a thorough treatment of transition metals, a general discussion of phonon dispersion curves, and examples of large computational calculations. The exercises accompanying every chapter will be of great benefit to the student.

Provides the theoretical background needed by physicists, engineers and students to simulate nano-devices, semiconductor quantum dots and molecular devices. It presents in a unified way the theoretical concepts, the more recent semi-empirical and ab initio methods, and their application to experiments. The topics include quantum confinement, dielectric and optical properties, non-radiative processes, defects and impurities, and quantum transport. This guidebook not only provides newcomers with an accessible overview (requiring only basic knowledge of quantum mechanics and solid-state physics) but also provides active researchers with practical simulation tools.

Surfaces and interfaces play an increasingly important role in today's solid state devices. In this book the reader is introduced, in a didactic manner, to the essential theoretical aspects of the atomic and electronic structure of surfaces and interfaces. The book does not pretend to give a complete overview of contemporary problems and methods. Instead, the authors strive to provide simple but qualitatively useful arguments that apply to a wide variety of cases. The emphasis of the book is on semiconductor surfaces and interfaces but it also includes a thorough treatment of transition metals, a general discussion of phonon dispersion curves, and examples of large computational calculations. The exercises accompanying every chapter will be of great benefit to the student.

The Winter School held in Les Houches on March 12-21, 1985 was devoted to Semiconductor Heterojunctions and Superlattices, a topic which is recognized as being now one of the most interesting and active fields in semiconductor physics. In fact, following the pioneering work of Esaki and Tsu in 1970, the study of these two-dimensional semiconductor heterostructures has developed rapidly, both from the point of view of basic physics and of applications. For instance, modulation-doped heterojunctions are nowadays currently used to investigate the quantum Hall effect and to make very fast transistors. This book contains the lectures presented at this Winter School, showing in particular that many aspects of semiconductor heterojunctions and super lattices were treated, extending from the fabrication of these two-dimensional systems to their basic properties and applications in micro-and opto-electron ics. Among the subjects which were covered, one can quote as examples: molecular beam epitaxy and metallorganic chemical vapor deposition of semi conductor compounds; band structure of superlattices; properties of elec trons in heterojunctions, including the fractional quantum Hall effect; opti cal properties of two-dimensional heterostructures; quantum well lasers; and two-dimensional electron gas field effect transistors. It is clear that two-dimensional semiconductor systems are raising a great deal of interest in many industrial and university laboratories. From the number of applications which were received and from the reactions of the participants, it can certainly be asserted that this School corresponded to a need and came at the right time."

Aldo Leopold and Ed Ricketts are giants in the history of environmental awareness. They were born ten years and only about 200 miles apart and died within weeks of each other in 1948. Yet they never met and they didn't read each other's work. This illuminating book reveals the full extent of their profound and parallel influence both on science and our perception of natural world today. In a lively comparison, Michael J. Lannoo shows how deeply these two ecological luminaries influenced the emergence both of environmentalism and conservation biology. In particular, he looks closely at how they each derived their ideas about the possible future of humanity based on their understanding of natural communities. Leopold and Ricketts both believed that humans cannot place themselves above earth's ecosystems and continue to survive. In light of climate change, invasive species, and collapsing ecosystems, their most important shared idea emerges as a powerful key to the future.

This benchmark volume documents in comprehensive detail a major environmental crisis: rapidly declining amphibian populations and the disturbing developmental problems that are increasingly prevalent within many amphibian species. Horror stories on this topic have been featured in the scientific and popular press over the past fifteen years, invariably asking what amphibian declines are telling us about the state of the environment. Are declines harbingers of devastated ecosystems or simply weird reflections of a peculiar amphibian world?
This compendium--presenting new data, reviews of current literature, and comprehensive species accounts--reinforces what scientists have begun to suspect, that amphibians are a lens through which the state of the environment can be viewed more clearly. And, that the view is alarming and presages serious concerns for all life, including that of our own species.
The first part of this work consists of more than fifty essays covering topics from the causes of declines to conservation, surveys and monitoring, and education. The second part consists of species accounts describing the life history and natural history of every known amphibian species in the United States.