Spatial dispersion, namely, the dependence of the dielectric-constant tensor on the wave vector (i.e., on the wavelength) at a fixed frequency, is receiving increased attention in electrodynamics and condensed-matter optics, partic ularly in crystal optics. In contrast to frequency dispersion, namely, the frequency dependence of the dielectric constant, spatial dispersion is of interest in optics mainly when it leads to qualitatively new phenomena. One such phenomenon has been weH known for many years; it is the natural optical activity (gyrotropy). But there are other interesting effects due to spatial dispersion, namely, new normal waves near absorption lines, optical anisotropy of cubic crystals, and many others. Crystal optics that takes spatial dispersion into account includes classical crystal optics with frequency dispersion only, as a special case. In our opinion, this fact alone justifies efforts to develop crystal optics with spatial dispersion taken into account, although admittedly its influence is smaH in some cases and it is observable only under rather special conditions. Furthermore, spatial dispersion in crystal optics deserves attention from another point as well, namely, the investigation of excitons that can be excited by light. We contend that crystal optics with spatial dispersion and the theory of excitons are fields that overlap to a great extent, and that it is sometimes quite impossible to separate them. It is our aim to show the true interplay be tween these interrelations and to combine the macroscopic and microscopic approaches to crystal optics with spatial dispersion and exciton theory.

This book deals with the subject of optical and electronic negative refraction (NR) and negative index materials NIM). Diverse approaches for achieving NR and NIM are covered, such as using photonic crystals, phononic crystals, split-ring resonators (SRRs) and continuous media, focusing of waves, guided-wave behavior, and nonlinear effects. It is perhaps the most comprehensive book on the new class of negative refraction materials, covering all aspects of negative refraction and negative index materials.

This multi-volume handbook is the most up-to-date and comprehensive reference work in the field of fractional calculus and its numerous applications. This fifth volume collects authoritative chapters covering several applications of fractional calculus in physics, including electrodynamics, statistical physics and physical kinetics, and quantum theory.

Progress in Optics

Microcavities are semiconductor, metal, or dielectric structures providing optical confinement in one, two or three dimensions. At the end of the 20th century, microcavities have attracted attention due to the discovery of a strong exciton-light coupling regime allowing for the formation of superposition light-matter quasiparticles: exciton-polaritons. In the following century several remarkable effects have been discovered in microcavities, including the Bose-Einstein condensation of exciton-polaritons, polariton lasing, superfluidity, optical spin Hall and spin Meissner effects, amongst other discoveries. Currently, polariton devices exploiting the bosonic stimulation effects at room temperature are being developed by laboratories across the world. This book addresses the physics of microcavities: from classical to quantum optics, from a Boltzmann gas to a superfluid. It provides the theoretical background needed for understanding the complex phenomena in coupled light-matter systems, and it presents a broad overview of experimental progress in the physics of microcavities.

Semiconductor Optics provides an introduction to and an overview of semiconductor optics from the IR through the visible to the UV, including linear and nonlinear optical properties, dynamics, magneto- and electrooptics, high-excitation effects, some applications, experimental techniques and group theory. Mathematics is kept as elementary as possible, enough for an intuitive understanding of the experimental results and techniques treated. The subjects covered extend from physics to materials science and optoelectronics.

An exciton is an electronic excitation wave consisting of an electron-hole pair which propagates in a nonmetallic solid. Since the pioneering research of Fren kel, Wannier and the Pohl group in the 1930s, a large number of experimental and theoretical studies have been made. Due to these investigations the exciton is now a well-established concept and the electronic structure has been clarified in great detail. The next subjects for investigation are, naturally, dynamical processes of excitons such as excitation, relaxation, annihilation and molecule formation and, in fact, many interesting phenomena have been disclosed by recent works. These excitonic processes have been recognized to be quite important in solid-state physics because they involve a number of basic interactions between excitons and other elementary excitations. It is the aim of this quasi monograph to describe these excitonic processes from both theoretical and experimental points of view. we take a few To discuss and illustrate the excitonic processes in solids, important and well-investigated insulating crystals as playgrounds for excitons on which they play in a manner characteristic of each material. The selection of the materials is made in such a way that they possess some unique properties of excitonic processes and are adequate to cover important interactions in which excitons are involved. In each material, excitonic processes are described in detail from the experimental side in order to show the whole story of excitons in a particular material.

This book bridges a gap between two major communities of Condensed Matter Physics, Semiconductors and Superconductors, that have thrived independently. Using an original perspective that the key particles of these materials, excitons and Cooper pairs, are composite bosons, the authors raise fundamental questions of current interest: how does the Pauli exclusion principle wield its power on the fermionic components of bosonic particles at a microscopic level and how this affects their macroscopic physics? What can we learn from Wannier and Frenkel excitons and from Cooper pairs that helps us understand "bosonic condensation" of composite bosons and its difference from Bose-Einstein condensation of elementary bosons? The authors begin with a solid mathematical and physical foundation to derive excitons and Cooper pairs. They further introduce Shiva diagrams as a graphic support to grasp the many-body physics induced by fermion exchange in the absence of fermion-fermion interaction - a novel mechanism not visualized by standard Feynman diagrams. Advanced undergraduate or graduate students in physics with no specific background will benefit from this book. The developed concepts and formalism should also be useful for current research on ultracold atomic gases and exciton-polaritons, and quantum information.