Optical Phenomena in Semiconductor Structures of Reduced Dimensions

Remarkable advances in semiconductor growth and processing technologies continue to have a profound impact on condensed-matter physics and to stimulate the invention of novel optoelectronic effects. Intensive research on the behaviors of free carriers has been carried out in the two-dimensional systems of semiconductor heterostructures and in the one and zero-dimensional systems of nanostructures created by the state-of-the-art fabrication methods. These studies have uncovered unexpected quantum mechanical correlations that arise because of the combined effects of strong electron-electron interactions and wave function confinement associated with reduced dimensionality. The investigations of these phenomena are currently at the frontiers of condensed-matter physics. They include areas like the fractional quantum Hall effect, the dynamics of electrons on an ultra short (femtosecond) time scale, electron behavior in quantum wires and dots, and studies of electron tunneling phenomena in ultra small semiconductor structures. Optical techniques have made important contributions to these fields in recent years, but there has been no coherent review of this work until now.
The book provides an overview of these recent developments that will be of interest to semiconductor materials scientists in university, government and industrial laboratories.

David Lockwood is an Associate Professor of modern history at Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia. He is a specialist in the modern history and politics of India and in Soviet history. He is especially interested in the role of the bourgeoisie in historical development. He combines this with work in the broad areas of the role of the state in economic development, the transition from state-controlled to market economies, and the effects of globalisation on national states.