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.