Examines the optical properties of low-dimensional semiconductor structures, a hot research area - for graduate students and researchers.

This book presents an overview of the current understanding of the physics of zero-dimensional semiconductors. It concentrates mainly on quantum dots of wide-gap semiconductors, but touches also on zero-dimensional systems based on silicon and III-V materials. After providing the reader with a theoretical background, the author illustrates the specific properties of three-dimensionally confined semiconductors, such as the size dependence of energy states, optical transitions, and dephasing mechanisms with the results from numerous experiments in linear and nonlinear spectroscopy. Technological concepts of the growth concepts and the potential of this new class of semiconductor materials for electro-optic and nonlinear optical devices are also discussed.

A physics book that covers the optical properties of quantum-confined semiconductor nanostructures from both the theoretical and experimental points of view together with technological applications. Topics to be reviewed include quantum confinement effects in semiconductors, optical adsorption and emission properties of group IV, III-V, II-VI semiconductors, deep-etched and self assembled quantum dots, nanoclusters, and laser applications in optoelectronics.

This is the first book to specifically focus on semiconductor nanocrystals, and address their synthesis and assembly, optical properties and spectroscopy, and potential areas of nanocrystal-based devices. The enormous potential of nanoscience to impact on industrial output is now clear. Over the next two decades, much of the science will transfer into new products and processes. One emerging area where this challenge will be very successfully met is the field of semiconductor nanocrystals. Also known as colloidal quantum dots, their unique properties have attracted much attention in the last twenty years.

The vast technological potential of nanocrystalline materials, as well as current intense interest in the physics and chemistry of nanoscale phenomena, has led to explosive growth in research on semiconductor nanocrystals, also known as nanocrystal quantum dots, and metal nanoparticles. Semiconductor and Metal Nanocrystals addresses current topics impacting the field including synthesis and assembly of nanocrystals, theory and spectroscopy of interband and intraband optical transitions, single-nanocrystal optical and tunneling spectroscopies, electrical transport in nanocrystal assemblies, and physical and engineering aspects of nanocrystal-based devices. Written by experts who have contributed pioneering research, this reference comprises key advances in the field of semiconductor nanocrystal quantum dots and metal nanoparticles over the past several years. Focusing specifically on nanocrystals generated through chemical techniques, Semiconductor and Metal Nanocrystals Merges investigative frontiers in physics, chemistry, and engineering Documents advances in nanocrystal synthesis and assembly Explores the theory of electronic excitations in nanoscale particles Presents comprehensive information on optical spectroscopy of interband and intraband optical transitions Reviews data on single-nanocrystal optical and tunneling spectroscopies Weighs controversies related to carrier relaxation dynamics in ultrasmall nanoparticles Discusses charge carrier transport in nanocrystal assemblies Provides examples of lasing and photovoltaic nanocrystal-based devices Semiconductor and Metal Nanocrystals is a must read for scientists, engineers, and upper-level undergraduate and graduate students interested in the physics and chemistry of nanoscale semiconductor and metal particles, as well as general nanoscale science. About the Editor: VICTOR I. KLIMOV is Team Leader, Softmatter Nanotechnology and Advanced Spectroscopy Team, Chemistry Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico. The recipient of the Los Alamos Fellows Prize (2000), he is a Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, leader of the Nanophotonics and Nanoelectronics Thrust of the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (U.S. Department of Energy), a member of the Los Alamos Board of Governors of the Institute for Complex Adaptive Matter, and a member of the Steering Committee for the Los Alamos Quantum Institute. He received the M.S. (1978), Ph.D. (1981), and Dr. Sci. (1993) degrees from Moscow State University, Russia.

Captures the most up-to-date research in the field, written in an accessible style by the world's leading experts.

Nanocrystals research has been an area of significant interest lately, due to the wide variety of potential applications in semiconductor, optical and biomedical fields. This book consists of a collection of research work on nanocrystals processing and characterization of their structural, optical, electronic, magnetic and mechanical properties. Various methods for nanocrystals synthesis are discussed in the book. Size-dependent properties such as quantum confinement, superparamagnetism have been observed in semiconductor and magnetic nanoparticles. Nanocrystals incorporated into different material systems have proven to possess improved properties. A review of the exciting outcomes nanoparticles study has provided indicates further accomplishments in the near future.