Excitons, Photons, and Their Coupling Interplay between Elementary and Composite Bosons

This book embarks on an exploration of the interplay between excitons, which are the fundamental excitations in semiconductors, and photons, which are the electromagnetic quanta, providing fresh insights into light-matter interaction. Covering the basic principles of semiconductor electronic structures in a detailed yet accessible way, this book provides a pedagogical introduction to the various Coulomb interactions between electrons and holes, which are the two semiconductor key particles, as well as the mathematical tools to study their many-body effects. It untangles the tricky excitonic physics that develops from the interplay between Coulomb and electron-photon interactions, which differentiates bright from dark excitons or leads to the bosonic modes known as exciton-polaritons. A unique re-examination of well-established concepts, this book provides original presentations of fundamental questions, such as the polariton vacuum or the deceptively simple exciton creation through photon absorption. Whether you are a student eager to learn from step-by-step derivations or an experienced physicist seeking to refine your knowledge, this book will serve as an invaluable guide to mastering the microscopic physics of semiconductors, an important material in modern technologies.

1 - Highlights of the book
2 - Some ideas on excitons
3 - Exciton phenomenology
4 - Semiconductor microscopy
5 - Wannier excitons
6 - Exciton many-body effects
7 - Classical electrodynamics in vacuum
8 - Semiclassical electrodynamics
9 - Quantum electrodynamics
10 - Maxwell equations in matter
11 - Photon couplings to excitons
12 - Exciton-polaritons
13 - Photon absorption
14 - Photocreation of excitons

Monique Combescot is a former student of the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, France, where she majored in Maths and Physics. In 1973, she obtained her PhD in many-body theory from the University of Paris, France. Following a two-year postdoc at Cornell University, USA, she returned to Paris, taking up a research position at the CNRS. She has taught many undergraduate courses at various universities and engineering schools. In the last two decades, she has also taught graduate courses in Paris and in many other places around the world. Shiue-Yuan Shiau obtained BSc in 1998 and his MSc in 2002 from National Taiwan University. He received his PhD in physics in 2007 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Following several postdoctoral positions in France, Singapore, and Taiwan, he is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Luxembourg.