While group theory and its application to solid state physics is well established, this textbook raises two completely new aspects. First, it provides a better understanding by focusing on problem solving and making extensive use of Mathematica tools to visualize the concepts. Second, it offers a new tool for the photonics community by transferring the concepts of group theory and its application to photonic crystals. Clearly divided into three parts, the first provides the basics of group theory. Even at this stage, the authors go beyond the widely used standard examples to show the broad field of applications. Part II is devoted to applications in condensed matter physics, i.e. the electronic structure of materials. Combining the application of the computer algebra system Mathematica with pen and paper derivations leads to a better and faster understanding. The exhaustive discussion shows that the basics of group theory can also be applied to a totally different field, as seen in Part III. Here, photonic applications are discussed in parallel to the electronic case, with the focus on photonic crystals in two and three dimensions, as well as being partially expanded to other problems in the field of photonics. The authors have developed Mathematica package GTPack which is available for download from the book's homepage. Analytic considerations, numerical calculations and visualization are carried out using the same software. While the use of the Mathematica tools are demonstrated on elementary examples, they can equally be applied to more complicated tasks resulting from the reader's own research.

While group theory and its application to solid state physics is well established, this textbook raises two completely new aspects. First, it provides a better understanding by focusing on problem solving and making extensive use of Mathematica tools to visualize the concepts. Second, it offers a new tool for the photonics community by transferring the concepts of group theory and its application to photonic crystals. Clearly divided into three parts, the first provides the basics of group theory. Even at this stage, the authors go beyond the widely used standard examples to show the broad field of applications. Part II is devoted to applications in condensed matter physics, i.e. the electronic structure of materials. Combining the application of the computer algebra system Mathematica with pen and paper derivations leads to a better and faster understanding. The exhaustive discussion shows that the basics of group theory can also be applied to a totally different field, as seen in Part III. Here, photonic applications are discussed in parallel to the electronic case, with the focus on photonic crystals in two and three dimensions, as well as being partially expanded to other problems in the field of photonics. The authors have developed Mathematica package GTPack which is available for download from the book's homepage. Analytic considerations, numerical calculations and visualization are carried out using the same software. While the use of the Mathematica tools are demonstrated on elementary examples, they can equally be applied to more complicated tasks resulting from the reader's own research.

While group theory and its application to solid state physics is well established, this textbook raises two completely new aspects. First, it provides a better understanding by focusing on problem solving and making extensive use of Mathematica tools to visualize the concepts. Second, it offers a new tool for the photonics community by transferring the concepts of group theory and its application to photonic crystals. Clearly divided into three parts, the first provides the basics of group theory. Even at this stage, the authors go beyond the widely used standard examples to show the broad field of applications. Part II is devoted to applications in condensed matter physics, i.e. the electronic structure of materials. Combining the application of the computer algebra system Mathematica with pen and paper derivations leads to a better and faster understanding. The exhaustive discussion shows that the basics of group theory can also be applied to a totally different field, as seen in Part III. Here, photonic applications are discussed in parallel to the electronic case, with the focus on photonic crystals in two and three dimensions, as well as being partially expanded to other problems in the field of photonics. The authors have developed Mathematica package GTPack which is available for download from the book's homepage. Analytic considerations, numerical calculations and visualization are carried out using the same software. While the use of the Mathematica tools are demonstrated on elementary examples, they can equally be applied to more complicated tasks resulting from the reader's own research.

This concise, class-tested book was refined over the authors’ 30 years as instructors at MIT and the University Federal of Minas Gerais (UFMG) in Brazil. The approach centers on the conviction that teaching group theory along with applications helps students to learn, understand and use it for their own needs. Thus, the theoretical background is confined to introductory chapters. Subsequent chapters develop new theory alongside applications so that students can retain new concepts, build on concepts already learned, and see interrelations between topics. Essential problem sets between chapters aid retention of new material and consolidate material learned in previous chapters.

This book is devoted to the construction of space group representations, their tabulation, and illustration of their use. Representation theory of space groups has a wide range of applications in modern physics and chemistry, including studies of electron and phonon spectra, structural and magnetic phase transitions, spectroscopy, neutron scattering, and superconductivity. The book presents a clear and practical method of deducing the matrices of all irreducible representations, including double-valued, and tabulates the matrices of irreducible projective representations for all 32 crystallographic point groups. One obtains the irreducible representations of all 230 space groups by multiplying the matrices presented in these compact and convenient to use tables by easily computed factors. A number of applications to the electronic band structure calculations are illustrated through real-life examples of different crystal structures. The book's content is accessible to both graduate and advanced undergraduate students with elementary knowledge of group theory and is useful to a wide range of experimentalists and theorists in materials and solid-state physics.

"Extreme Photonics & Applications" arises from the 2008 NATO Advanced Study Institute in Laser Control & Monitoring in New Materials, Biomedicine, Environment, Security and Defense. Leading experts in the manipulation of light offered by recent advances in laser physics and nanoscience were invited to give lectures in their fields of expertise and participate in discussions on current research, applications and new directions. The sum of their contributions to this book is a primer for the state of scientific knowledge and the issues within the subject of photonics taken to the extreme frontiers: molding light at the ultra-finest scales, which represents the beginning of the end to limitations in optical science for the benefit of 21st Century technological societies. Laser light is an exquisite tool for physical and chemical research. Physicists have recently developed pulsed lasers with such short durations that one laser shot takes the time of one molecular vibration or one electron rotation in an atom, which makes it possible to observe their internal electronic structure, thereby enabling the study of physical processes and new chemical reactions. In parallel, advances in micro- and nano-structured photonic materials allow the precise manipulation of light on its natural scale of a wavelength. Photonic crystals, plasmons and related metamaterials - composed of subwavelength nanostructures - permit the manipulation of their dispersive properties and have allowed the experimental confirmation of bizarre new effects such as slow light and negative refraction. These advances open a vista on a new era in which it is possible to build lasers and engineer materials to control and use photons as precisely as it is already possible to do with electrons. http://www.photonics.uottawa.ca/nato-asi-2008/

Unlike existing texts, this book blends for the first time three topics in physics - symmetry, condensed matter physics and computational methods - into one pedagogical textbook. It includes new concepts in mathematical crystallography; experimental methods capitalizing on symmetry aspects; non-conventional applications such as Fourier crystallography, color groups, quasicrystals and incommensurate systems; as well as concepts and techniques behind the Landau theory of phase transitions. Adopting a computational approach to the application of group theoretical techniques to solving symmetry related problems, it dramatically alleviates the need for intensive calculations usually found in the presentation of symmetry. Writing computer programs helps the student achieve a firm understanding of the underlying concepts, and sample programs, based on Mathematica, are presented throughout the book. Containing over 150 exercises, this textbook is ideal for graduate students in condensed matter physics, materials science, and chemistry. Solutions and computer programs are available online at www.cambridge.org/9780521828451.

Optical Properties of Solids covers the important concepts of intrinsic optical properties and photoelectric emission. The book starts by providing an introduction to the fundamental optical spectra of solids. The text then discusses Maxwell's equations and the dielectric function; absorption and dispersion; and the theory of free-electron metals. The quantum mechanical theory of direct and indirect transitions between bands; the applications of dispersion relations; and the derivation of an expression for the dielectric function in the self-consistent field approximation are also encompassed. The book further tackles current-current correlations; the fluctuation-dissipation theorem; and the effect of surface plasmons on optical properties and photoemission. People involved in the study of the optical properties of solids will find the book invaluable.

The most up-to-date book available on the physics of photonic devices This new edition of Physics of Photonic Devices incorporates significant advancements in the field of photonics that have occurred since publication of the first edition (Physics of Optoelectronic Devices). New topics covered include a brief history of the invention of semiconductor lasers, the Lorentz dipole method and metal plasmas, matrix optics, surface plasma waveguides, optical ring resonators, integrated electroabsorption modulator-lasers, and solar cells. It also introduces exciting new fields of research such as: surface plasmonics and micro-ring resonators; the theory of optical gain and absorption in quantum dots and quantum wires and their applications in semiconductor lasers; and novel microcavity and photonic crystal lasers, quantum-cascade lasers, and GaN blue-green lasers within the context of advanced semiconductor lasers. Physics of Photonic Devices, Second Edition presents novel information that is not yet available in book form elsewhere. Many problem sets have been updated, the answers to which are available in an all-new Solutions Manual for instructors. Comprehensive, timely, and practical, Physics of Photonic Devices is an invaluable textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in photonics and an indispensable tool for researchers working in this rapidly growing field.

Computational Physics is now a discipline in its own right, comparable with theoretical and experimental physics. Computational Materials Science concentrates on the calculation of materials properties starting from microscopic theories. It has become a powerful tool in industrial research for designing new materials, modifying materials properties and optimizing chemical processes. This book focusses on the application of computational methods in new fields of research, such as nanotechnology, spintronics and photonics, which will provide the foundation for important technological advances in the future. Methods such as electronic structure calculations, molecular dynamics simulations and beyond are presented, the discussion extending from the basics to the latest applications.