The field of semiconductor nanostructures is of enormous and still-growing research interest. On one hand, they are already realized in mass products such as high-electron-mobility field-effect transistors and quantum-well lasers. On the other hand, they allow, in specially tailored systems, the investigation of fundamental properties such as many-particle interactions of electrons in reduced dimensions. This book bridges the gap between general semiconductor textbooks and research articles.

The field of semiconductor nanostructures is of enormous and still-growing research interest. On one hand, they are already realized in mass products such as high-electron-mobility field-effect transistors and quantum-well lasers. On the other hand, they allow, in specially tailored systems, the investigation of fundamental properties such as many-particle interactions of electrons in reduced dimensions. This book bridges the gap between general semiconductor textbooks and research articles.

This volume is the eighth of a well-established series devoted to inelastic light scattering by solids, both as a physical effect and as a spectroscopic technique. It appears jointly with volume VII and can be considered to be its continuation. Emphasis is placed on fullerenes, Raman spectroscopy of semiconductors, surfaces, and interfaces, and coherent phonons. A survey of some of the progress in other aspects of Raman spectroscopy, in particular in the field of semiconductor nanostructures including the fractional quantum Hall effect, and in Raman spectroscopy of isotopically modified crystals rounds up the description of the present status of the field. It will be useful to advanced students and to all researchers who apply Raman spectroscopy in their work.

This volume treats new materials (nanotubes and quantum dots) and new techniques (synchrotron radiation scattering and cavity confined scattering). In the past five years, Raman and Brillouin scattering have taken a place among the most important research and characterization methods for carbon nanotubes. Among the novel techniques discussed in this volume are those employing synchrotron radiation as a light source.

This work is devoted to the study of the optical properties of semiconductor and metallic nanostructures. The inelastic light scattering by low frequency acoustic vibrations (AV), called Raman-Brillouin (RB) scattering, gives access to such properties. The confined electronic states of semiconductor nanostructures are involved in the RB scattering as an intermediary. When applying an external electric field, metallic nano-objects sustain collective oscillation modes of the free electron gas (plasmons) which also act as an intermediary during the emission and the absorption of low frequency AV in the RB scattering process. The understanding of the interaction between the AV and the electronic excitations (excitons or plasmons) gives direct information on the optical and vibrational properties of those nano-objects. New physical concepts are introduced as theoretical tools for the interpretation of the RB scattering in semiconductors and metals. An effective electronic density, responsible for the RB scattering in semiconductors, is here introduced for the first time as new advanced theoretical tool for the interpretation of the inelastic light scattering processes by low frequency AV. The concept of acousto-plasmonics is also introduced for the first time to study and describe the modulation of the plasmonic properties of metallic nano-objects by the AV. These concepts and the numerical methods used in this work (BEM, DDA, FDTD) allowed to interpret fine physical effects such as significant spectral red-shifts of plasmons resonances and unexpected observations of AV by RB spectroscopy.

In the last ten years, the physics and technology of low dimensional structures has experienced a tremendous development. Quantum structures with vertical and lateral confinements are now routinely fabricated with feature sizes below 100 run. While quantization of the electron states in mesoscopic systems has been the subject of intense investigation, the effect of confinement on lattice vibrations and its influence on the electron-phonon interaction and energy dissipation in nanostructures received atten tion only recently. This NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Phonons in Sem iconductor Nanostructures was a forum for discussion on the latest developments in the physics of phonons and their impact on the electronic properties of low-dimensional structures. Our goal was to bring together specialists in lattice dynamics and nanos tructure physics to assess the increasing importance of phonon effects on the physical properties of one-(lD) and zero-dimensional (OD) structures. The Workshop addressed various issues related to phonon physics in III-V, II-VI and IV semiconductor nanostructures. The following topics were successively covered: Models for confined phonons in semiconductor nanostructures, latest experimental observations of confined phonons and electron-phonon interaction in two-dimensional systems, elementary excitations in nanostructures, phonons and optical processes in reduced dimensionality systems, phonon limited transport phenomena, hot electron effects in quasi - ID structures, carrier relaxation and phonon bottleneck in quantum dots.

This volume is the eighth of a well-established series devoted to inelastic light scattering by solids, both as a physical effect and as a spectroscopic technique. It appears jointly with volume VII and can be considered to be its continuation. Emphasis is placed on fullerenes, Raman spectroscopy of semiconductors, surfaces, and interfaces, and coherent phonons. A survey of some of the progress in other aspects of Raman spectroscopy, in particular in the field of semiconductor nanostructures including the fractional quantum Hall effect, and in Raman spectroscopy of isotopically modified crystals rounds up the description of the present status of the field. It will be useful to advanced students and to all researchers who apply Raman spectroscopy in their work.

The purpose of this course was to give an overview of the physics of artificial semiconductor structures confining electrons and photons. It furnishes the background for several applications in particular in the domain of optical devices, lasers, light emitting diodes or photonic crystals. The effects related to the microactivity polaritons, which are mixed electromagnetic radiation-exciton states inside a semiconconductor microactivity are covered. The study of the characteristics of such states shows strong relations with the domain of cavity quantum electrodynamics and thus with the investigation of some fundamental theoretical concepts.

This volume looks at optical spectroscopy of semiconductir nanostructures. Some of the topics it covers include: kingdom of nanostructures; quantum confinement in low-dimensional systems; resonant light reflection; and transmission and absorption.

Semiconductor nanostructures are ideal systems to tailor the physical properties via quantum effects, utilizing special growth techniques, self-assembling, wet chemical processes or lithographic tools in combination with tuneable external electric and magnetic fields. Such systems are called "Quantum Materials".The electronic, photonic, and phononic properties of these systems are governed by size quantization and discrete energy levels. The charging is controlled by the Coulomb blockade. The spin can be manipulated by the geometrical structure, external gates and by integrating hybrid ferromagnetic emitters.This book reviews sophisticated preparation methods for quantum materials based on III-V and II-VI semiconductors and a wide variety of experimental techniques for the investigation of these interesting systems. It highlights selected experiments and theoretical concepts and gives such a state-of-the-art overview about the wide field of physics and chemistry that can be studied in these systems.