OPTICAL PROCESSES IN SOLIDS

A unifying element that links the apparently diverse phenomena observed in optical processes is the dielectric dispersion of matter. It describes the response of matter to incoming electromagnetic waves and charged particles, and thus predicts their behavior in the self-induced field of matter, known as polariton and polaron effects. The energies of phonon, exciton and plasmon, quanta of collective motions of charged particles constituting the matter, are also governed by dielectric dispersion. Since the latter is a functional of the former, one can derive useful relations for their self-consistency.