A technical treatment of the photovoltaic effect, one of the causes of photorefraction, which itself is used in holography, beam amplification and correction, wavefront reversals, and other fields. Focuses on the effect in ferro- and piezoelectric crystals. Translated from the Russian. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Ferroelectric materials, in addition to possessing the unique property of a reversible, spontaneous polarization, exhibit a range of other significant and useful properties. These include high values of piezoelectric, pyroelectric, nonlinear optic, electrooptic, photorefractice and dielectric permittivity coefficients. Another fascinating property of ferroelectric materials is their photovoltaic effect. Photovoltaic effects have been extensively studied in the past in symmetric materials such as silicon. This volume is the first concentrated treatment of the characteristics, theory and potential applications of the photovoltaic effect in noncentrosymmetric materials, which include ferroelectrics and piezoelectrics. The book also deals with the relationship between the photovoltaic and the photorefractive effects. The latter has already been well-studied and is finding many applications in optical processing and computing. This volume should prove to be an important text as well as a comprehensive reference source for basic and applied researchers working on photovoltaic, photorefractive and other photoeffects in ferroelectrics and related materials.

The photorefractive effect is now firmly established as one of the highest-sensitivity nonlinear optical effects, making it an attractive choice for use in many optical holographic processing applications. As with all technologies based on advanced materials, the rate of progress in the development of photorefractive applications has been principally limited by the rate at which breakthroughs in materials science have supplied better photorefractive materials. The last ten years have seen an upsurge of interest in photorefractive applications because of several advances in the synthesis and growth of new and sensitive materials. This book is a collection of many of the most important recent developments in photorefractive effects and materials. The introductory chapter, which provides the necessary tools for understanding a wide variety of photorefractive phenomena, is followed by seven contributed chapters that offer views of the state-of-the-art in several different material systems. The second chapter represents the most detailed study to date on the growth and photorefractive performance of BaTi03, one of the most important photorefractive ferroelectrlcs. The third chapter describes the process of permanently fixing holographic gratings in ferroelectrics, important for volumetric data storage with ultra-high data densities. The fourth chapter describes the discovery and theory of photorefractive spatial solitons. Photorefractive polymers are an exciting new class of photo refractive materials, described in the fifth chapter. Polymers have many advantages, primarily related to fabrication, that could promise a breakthrough to the marketplace because of ease and low-cost of manufacturing.

This book covers the recent advances in photovoltaics materials and their innovative applications. Many materials science problems are encountered in understanding existing solar cells and the development of more efficient, less costly, and more stable cells. This important and timely book provides a historical overview, but concentrates primarily on the exciting developments in the last decade. It includes organic and perovskite solar cells, photovoltaics in ferroelectric materials, organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite, materials with improved photovoltaic efficiencies as well as the full range of semiconductor materials for solar-to-electricity conversion, from crystalline silicon and amorphous silicon to cadmium telluride, copper indium gallium sulfide selenides, dye sensitized solar cells, organic solar cells, and environmentally-friendly copper zinc tin sulfide selenides.

Reflecting changes in the field in the ten years since the publication of the first edition, The Handbook of Photonics, Second Edition explores recent advances that have affected this technology. In this new, updated second edition editor Mool Gupta is joined by John Ballato, strengthening the handbook with their combined knowledge and the continued contributions of world-class researchers. New in the Second Edition: Information on optical fiber technology and the economic impact of photonics Coverage of emerging technologies in nanotechnology Sections on optical amplifiers, and polymeric optical materials The book covers photonics materials, devices, and systems, respectively. An introductory chapter, new to this edition, provides an overview of photonics technology, innovation, and economic development. Resting firmly on the foundation set by the first edition, this new edition continues to serve as a source for introductory material and a collection of published data for research and training in this field, making it the reference of first resort.

Provides a comprehensive overview of the emerging applications of ferroelectric materials in energy harvesting and storage Conventional ferroelectric materials are normally used in sensors and actuators, memory devices, and field effect transistors, etc. Recent progress in this area showed that ferroelectric materials can harvest energy from multiple sources including mechanical energy, thermal fluctuations, and light. This book gives a complete summary of the novel energy-related applications of ferroelectric materials?and reviews both the recent advances as well as the future perspectives in this field. Beginning with the fundamentals of ferroelectric materials, Ferroelectric Materials for Energy Applications offers in-depth chapter coverage of: piezoelectric energy generation; ferroelectric photovoltaics; organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites for solar energy conversion; ferroelectric ceramics and thin films in electric energy storage; ferroelectric polymer composites in electric energy storage; pyroelectric energy harvesting; ferroelectrics in electrocaloric cooling; ferroelectric in photocatalysis; and first-principles calculations on ferroelectrics for energy applications. -Covers a highly application-oriented subject with great potential for energy conversion and storage applications. -Focused toward a large, interdisciplinary group consisting of material scientists, solid state physicists, engineering scientists, and industrial researchers -Edited by the "father of integrated ferroelectrics" Ferroelectric Materials for Energy Applications is an excellent book for researchers working on ferroelectric materials and energy materials, as well as engineers looking to broaden their view of the field.

This is the first volume of a set of three within the Springer Series in Optical Sciences, and is devoted to photorefractive effects, photorefractive materials, and their applications. Since the publication of our first two Springer books on Photorefractive Materials and Their Applications (Topics in Applied Physics, Vols. 61 and 62) almost 20 years ago, a lot of research has been done in this area. New and often expected effects have been discovered, theoretical models developed, known effects finally explained, and novel applications proposed. We believe that the field has now reached a high level of maturity, even if research continues in all areas mentioned above and with new discoveries arriving quite regularly. We therefore have decided to invite some of the top experts in the field to put together the state of the art in their respective fields. This after we had been encouraged to do so for more than ten years by the publisher, due to the fact that the former volumes were long out of print.