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This book embarks on an exploration of the interplay between excitons, which are the fundamental excitations in semiconductors, and photons, which are the electromagnetic quanta, providing fresh insights into light-matter interaction.
Covering the basic principles of semiconductor electronic structures in a detailed yet accessible way, this book provides a pedagogical introduction to the various Coulomb interactions between electrons and holes, which are the two semiconductor key particles, as well as the mathematical tools to study their many-body effects. It untangles the tricky excitonic physics that develops from the interplay between Coulomb and electron-photon interactions, which differentiates bright from dark excitons or leads to the bosonic modes known as exciton-polaritons.
A unique re-examination of well-established concepts, this book provides original presentations of fundamental questions, such as the polariton vacuum or the deceptively simple exciton creation through photon absorption. Whether you are a student eager to learn from step-by-step derivations or an experienced physicist seeking to refine your knowledge, this book will serve as an invaluable guide to mastering the microscopic physics of semiconductors, an important material in modern technologies.
List of contents
- 1: Highlights of the book
- PART I - EXCITONS
- 2: Some ideas on excitons
- 3: Exciton phenomenology
- 4: Semiconductor microscopy
- 5: Wannier excitons
- 6: Exciton many-body effects
- PART II - PHOTONS
- 7: Classical electrodynamics in vacuum
- 8: Semiclassical electrodynamics
- 9: Quantum electrodynamics
- 10: Maxwell equations in matter
- PART III - EXCITON-PHOTON COUPLING
- 11: Photon couplings to excitons
- 12: Exciton-polaritons
- 13: Photon absorption
- 14: Photocreation of excitons
- PART IV - APPENDICES
- Appendix 1 - Second quantization formalism
- Appendix 2 - Large finite volume
- Appendix 3 - Arbitrary (±i) phase factors
- Appendix 4 - On wave vector quantization
- Appendix 5 - Kronecker symbol and delta function
- Appendix 6 - Fourier Series and Integrals
- Appendix 7 - Bloch theorem
- Appendix 8 - Bloch electrons and Bloch functions
- Appendix 9 - Coulomb interactions between electrons and holes
- Appendix 10 - On dielectric constant for long/short-range Coulomb processes
- Appendix 11 - Angular momenta: additions and matrix representations
- Appendix 12 - From valence electrons to holes
- Appendix 13 - Spin-orbit prefactor: Thomas derivation
- Appendix 14 - The k · p method
- Appendix 15 - Physics of negative masses for Bloch electrons
- Appendix 16 - Understanding the Kohn-Luttinger Hamiltonian
- Appendix 17 - Coulomb scatterings involving heavy and light holes
- Appendix 18 - Schrödinger equation in D dimension
- Appendix 19 - Number of exciton levels in a finite crystal
- Appendix 20 - Effect of hole mass difference on exciton degeneracy
- Appendix 21 - Interband Coulomb interaction, electron-hole pair exchange, and longitudinal-transverse exciton splitting
- Appendix 22 - Wannier electron states
- Appendix 23 - One Wannier exciton through ladder diagrams
- Appendix 24 - Pauli and Coulomb scatterings between Wannier excitons
- Appendix 25 - Reasons for not using the E · d coupling instead of A · p
- Appendix 26 - Rotating wave approximation versus quantizing the electromagnetic field
- Appendix 27 - On polarization vectors
- Appendix 28 - Broadened absorption line
- Appendix 29 - More on exciton-polaritons
- Appendix 30 - Two coupled bosons with finite lifetime
About the author
Monique Combescot is a former student of the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, France, where she majored in Maths and Physics. In 1973, she obtained her PhD in many-body theory from the University of Paris, France. Following a two-year postdoc at Cornell University, USA, she returned to Paris, taking up a research position at the CNRS. She has taught many undergraduate courses at various universities and engineering schools. In the last two decades, she has also taught graduate courses in Paris and in many other places around the world.
Shiue-Yuan Shiau obtained BSc in 1998 and his MSc in 2002 from National Taiwan University. He received his PhD in physics in 2007 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Following several postdoctoral positions in France, Singapore, and Taiwan, he is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Luxembourg.
