Much progress has been made in the understanding of the general properties of the dielectric function and in the calculation of this quantity for many classes of media. This volume gathers together the considerable information available and presents a detailed overview of the present status of the theory of electromagnetic response functions, whilst simultaneously covering a wide range of problems in its application to condensed matter physics. The following subjects are covered: - the dielectric function of the homogeneous electron gas, of crystalline systems, and of inhomogeneous matter; - electromagnetic fluctuations and molecular forces in condensed matter; - electrodynamics of superlattices.

Much progress has been made in the understanding of the general properties of the dielectric function and in the calculation of this quantity for many classes of media. This volume gathers together the considerable information available and presents a detailed overview of the present status of the theory of electromagnetic response functions, whilst simultaneously covering a wide range of problems in its application to condensed matter physics. The following subjects are covered: - the dielectric function of the homogeneous electron gas, of crystalline systems, and of inhomogeneous matter; - electromagnetic fluctuations and molecular forces in condensed matter; - electrodynamics of superlattices.

Recent developments in microelectronics technologies have created a great demand for interlayer dielectric materials with a very low dielectric constant. They will play a crucial role in the future generation of IC devices (VLSI/UISI and high speed IC packaging). Considerable efforts have been made to develop new low as well as high dielectric constant materials for applications in electronics industries. Besides achieving either low or high dielectric constants, other materials' properties such as good processability, high mechanical strength, high thermal and environmental stability, low thermal expansion, low current leakage, low moisture absorption, corrosion resistant, etc., are of equal importance. Many chemical and physical strategies have been employed to get desired dielectric materials with high performance. This is a rapidly growing field of science--both in novel materials and their applications to future packing technologies. The experimental data on inorganic and organic materials having low or high dielectric constant remail scattered in the literature. It is timely, therfore, to consolidate the current knowledge on low and high dielectric constant materials into a sigle reference source. Handbook of Low and High Dielectric Constant Materials and Their Applications is aimed at bringing together under a sigle cover (in two volumes) all low and high dielectric constant materials currently studied in academic and industrial research covering all spects of inorgani an organic materials from their synthetic chemistry, processing techniques, physics, structure-property relationship to applications in IC devices. This book will summarize the current status of the field covering important scientific developments made over the past decade with contributions from internationally recognized experts from all over the world. Fully cross-referenced, this book has clear, precise, and wide appeal as an essential reference source for all those interested in low and high dielectric constant material.

This volume presents six articles describing theoretical and experimental research of interest in optics. The articles review applications of the Wigner distribution function in optics and optoelectronics, examine the mathematical foundations and the applicability of Kramers-Kronig relations to data inversion in linear and nonlinear optical spectroscopy and explore concentration and anisotropy fluctuations. Chapter four reviews the field of fibre-optical soliton communication systems, and includes discussion of periodic amplification, timing jitter and its control and time-division multiplexing. Chapter five focuses on theoretical aspects of the local field electrodynamics in mesoscopic media. The final chapter reviews experiments and theories concerning the time it takes for a photon or an electromagnetic wave packet to tunnel across a barrier.

The object of this book is to provide a comprehensive reference source for the numerous scientific communities (engineers, researchers, students, etc.) in various disciplines which require detailed information in the field of dielectric materials. Part 1 focuses on physical properties, electrical ageing, and modeling - including topics such as the physics of charged dielectric materials, conduction mechanisms, dielectric relaxation, space charge, electric ageing and end of life (EOL) models, and dielectric experimental characterization. Part 2 examines applications of specific relevance to dielectric materials: insulating oils for transformers, electro-rheological fluids, electrolytic capacitors, ionic membranes, photovoltaic conversion, dielectric thermal control coatings for geostationary satellites, plastics recycling and piezoelectric polymers.

Any book that covers a large variety of subjects and is written by one author lacks by necessity the depth provided by an expert in his or her own field of specialization. This book is no exception. It has been written with the encouragement of my students and colleagues, who felt that an extensive card file I had accumulated over the years of teaching solid state and semiconductor physics would be helpful to more than just a few of us. This file, updated from time to time, contained lecture notes and other entries that were useful in my research and permitted me to give to my students a broader spectrum of information than is available in typical textbooks. When assembling this material into a book, I divided the top ics into material dealing with the homogeneous semiconductor, the subject of the previously published Volume 1, and the inhomoge neous semiconductor, the subject of this Volume 2. In order to keep the book to a manageable size, sections of tutorial character which can be used as text for a graduate level class had to be interwoven with others written in shorter, reference style. The pointers at the right-hand page header will assist in distinguishing the more diffi cult reference parts of the book (with the pointer to the right) from the more easy-to-read basic educational sections (with the pointer tending to the left).

Taking up where the first volume left off, this work provides coverage of the inhomogeneous semiconductor. It deals mainly with Si and GaAs, but also investigates other materials of theoretical and practical interest, such as Ge, other III-V and II-VI compounds, and amorphous SiH. Equipped with this source, physicists, semiconductor engineers, device engineers and fabrication engineers will have access to a vast reservoir of practical information on the design, production and operations of semiconductor devices.

Optics of Excitons in Confined Systems provides an overview of research in semiconductors that exhibit resonance enhanced optical nonlinearities in the frequency range close to the valence-conduction band gap. The book is divided into the following sections: quantum wells, wires, and dots; superlattices; nonlinear optical properties of confined systems; and effects of external fields on confined systems. Topics range from fundamental theory to more applied aspects of excitons in confined sytems.

Zeta-function regularization is a powerful method in perturbation theory, and this book is a comprehensive guide for the student of this subject. Everything is explained in detail, in particular the mathematical difficulties and tricky points, and several applications are given to show how the procedure works in practice, for example in the Casimir effect, gravity and string theory, high-temperature phase transition, topological symmetry breaking, and non-commutative spacetime. The formulae, some of which are new, can be directly applied in creating physically meaningful, accurate numerical calculations. The book acts both as a basic introduction and a collection of exercises for those who want to apply this regularization procedure in practice. Thoroughly revised, updated and expanded, this new edition includes novel, explicit formulas on the general quadratic, the Chowla-Selberg series case, an interplay with the Hadamard calculus, and also features a fresh chapter on recent cosmological applications, including the calculation of the vacuum energy fluctuations at large scale in braneworld and other models.

Understanding the structural and thermodynamic properties of surfaces, interfaces, and membranes is important for both fundamental and practical reasons. Important applications include coatings, dispersants, encapsulating agents, and biological materials. Soft materials, important in the development of new materials and the basis of many biological systems, cannot be designed using trial and error methods due to the multiplicity of components and parameters. While these systems can sometimes be analyzed in terms of microscopic mixtures, it is often conceptually simpler to regard them as dispersions and to focus on the properties of the internal interfaces found in these systems. The basic physics centers on the properties of quasi-two-dimensional systems embedded in the three-dimensional world, thus exhibiting phenomena that do not exist in bulk materials. This approach is the basis behind the theoretical presentation of Statistical Thermodynamics of Surfaces, Interfaces, and Membranes. The approach adapted allows one to treat the rich diversity of phenomena investigated in the field of soft matter physics (including both colloid/interface science as well as the materials and macromolecular aspects of biological physics) such as interfacial tension, the roughening transition, wetting, interactions between surfaces, membrane elasticity, and self-assembly. Presented as a set of lecture notes, this book is aimed at physicists, physical chemists, biological physicists, chemical engineers, and materials scientists who are interested in the statistical mechanics that underlie the macroscopic, thermodynamic properties of surfaces, interfaces, and membranes. This paperback edition contains all the material published in the original hard-cover edition as well as additional clarifications and explanations.