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.
This book discusses the basic physics of semiconductor macroatoms at the nanoscale as well as their potential application as building blocks for the realization of new-generation quantum devices.It provides a review on state-of-the art fabrication and characterization of semiconductor quantum dots aimed at implementing single-electron/exciton devices for quantum information processing and communication. After an introductory chapter on the fundamentals of quantum dots, a number of more specialized review articles presents a comprehensive picture of this rapidly developing field, specifically including strongly multidisciplinary topics such as state-of-the-art nanofabrication and optical characterization, fully microscopic theoretical modeling of nontrivial many-body processes, as well as design and optimization of novel quantum-device architectures.Sample Chapter(s)
An international team of experts describes the optical and electronic properties of semiconductors and semiconductor nanostructures at picosecond and femtosecond time scales. The contributions cover the latest research on a wide range of topics. In particular they include novel experimental techniques for studying and characterizing nanostructure materials. The contributions are written in a tutorial way so that not only researchers in the field but also researchers and graduate students outside the field can benefit.
Special focus is given to the optical and electronic properties of single quantum dots due to their potential applications in devices operating with single electrons and/or single photons. This includes quantum dots in electric and magnetic fields, cavity-quantum electrodynamics, nonclassical light generation, and coherent optical control of excitons.
This thesis focuses on theoretical analysis of the sophisticated ultrafast optical experiments that probe the crucial first few picoseconds of quantum light harvesting, making an important contribution to quantum biology, an exciting new field at the intersection of condensed matter, physical chemistry and biology. It provides new insights into the role of vibrational dynamics during singlet fission of organic pentacene thin films, and targeting the importance of vibrational dynamics in the design of nanoscale organic light harvesting devices, it also develops a new wavelet analysis technique to probe vibronic dynamics in time-resolved nonlinear optical experiments. Lastly, the thesis explores the theory of how non-linear “breather” vibrations are excited and propagate in the disordered nanostructures of photosynthetic proteins.
This volume is a collection of papers presented at the Fifteenth International Conference on Ultrafast Phenomena held at the Asilomar Conference Grounds, Pacifc Grove, CA, USA, from July 31 – August 4, 2006. The Ultrafast P- nomena conferences are held every two years and provide a forum for disc- sion of the latest results in ultrafast optics and their applications in science and engineering. These meetings bring together researchers spanning several felds of science and engineering to discuss and debate the latest advances in ult- fast science. This unique forum provides a conduit for the greater dissemi- tion of the latest advances using ultrashort coherent pulses of light. More than 280 papers were presented. Signifcant progress in creating ever shorter pulses of light was reported in the attosecond range, with new applications in high harmonic generation and frequency comb metrology. Multidimensional sp- troscopy is rapidly evolving to provide new insights into quantum coherence and interactions in complex systems. Improvements in time resolved electron and x-ray diffraction provide better atomic scale perspectives on structural dynamics. These examples are but a small subset of the collected works ga- ered in this volume, which provides a valuable synopsis of the recent advances and impact of ultrafast technology in illuminating fundamental processes in physics, chemistry, and biology. There were 323 attendees at the meeting, more than one third of which were graduate and postdoctoral students. Increased s- dent attendance energized the proceedings.
Ultrafast spectroscopy of semiconductors and semiconductor nanostructures is currently one of the most exciting areas of research in condensed-matter physics. Remarkable recent progress in the generation of tunable femtosecond pulses has allowed direct investigation of the most fundamental dynamical processes in semiconductors. This second edition presents the most striking recent advances in the techniques of ultrashort pulse generation and ultrafast spectroscopy; it discusses the physics of relaxation, tunneling and transport dynamics in semiconductors and semiconductor nanostructures following excitation by femtosecond laser pulses.
Reducing the size of a coherently grown semiconductor cluster in all three directions of space to a value below the de Broglie wavelength of a charge carrier leads to complete quantization of the energy levels, density of states, etc. Such “quantum dots” are more similar to giant atoms in a dielectric cage than to classical solids or semiconductors showing a dispersion of energy as a function of wavevector. Their electronic and optical properties depend strongly on their size and shape, i.e. on their geometry. By designing the geometry by controlling the growth of QDs, absolutely novel possibilities for material design leading to novel devices are opened. This multiauthor book written by world-wide recognized leaders of their particular fields and edited by the recipient of the Max-Born Award and Medal 2006 Professor Dieter Bimberg reports on the state of the art of the growing of quantum dots, the theory of self-organised growth, the theory of electronic and excitonic states, optical properties and transport in a variety of materials. It covers the subject from the early work beginning of the 1990s up to 2006. The topics addressed in the book are the focus of research in all leading semiconductor and optoelectronic device laboratories of the world.
