Metal-semiconductor nanostructures represent an important new class of materials employed in designing advanced optoelectronic and nanophotonic devices, such as plasmonic nanolasers, plasmon-enhanced light-emitting diodes and solar cells, plasmonic emitters of single photons, and quantum devices operating in infrared and terahertz domains. The combination of surface plasmon resonances in conducting structures, providing strong concentration of an electromagnetic optical field nearby, with sharp optical resonances in semiconductors, which are highly sensitive to external electromagnetic fields, creates a platform to control light on the nanoscale. The design of the composite metal-semiconductor system imposes the consideration of both the plasmonic resonances in metal and the optical transitions in semiconductors - a key issue being their resonant interaction providing a coupling regime.

In this book the reader will find descriptions of electrodynamics of conducting structures, quantum physics of semiconductor nanostructures, and guidelines for advanced engineering of metal-semiconductor composites. These constituents form together the physical basics of the metal-semiconductor plasmonics, underlying many effective practical applications. The list of covered topics also includes the review of recent results, such as the achievement of a strong coupling regime, and the preservation of non-classical statistics of photons in plasmonic cavities combined with semiconductor nanostructures.

About the Author:
Alexey A. Toropov, Leading researcher, Ioffe Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Tatiana V. Shubina, Leading researcher, Ioffe Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Alexey A. Toropov is a leading researcher at the Center for Physics of Nano-Heterostructures in the Ioffe Institute and Professor at the Institute of Physics, Nanotechnology, and Telecommunications in St.Petersburg State Polytechnical University. He received his M.S. from the Physical Department of the Leningrad State University. He received his Ph.D. degree and later the second scientific degree (Doctor of Physical-Mathematical Sciences - Habilitation) from the Ioffe Institute. He has authored over 200 research papers, and his current research interests are focused on the physics of semiconductor nanostructures, plasmonics, and nanophotonics.

Tatiana V. Shubina, is a leading researcher at the Center for Physics of Nano-Heterostructures in the Ioffe Institute and Professor at the Department for Nanoelectronics and Nanophotonics at the Baltic University. She received her M.S. from Saint Petersburg Electrotechnical University "LETI". Her Ph.D. degree compiles the ten years experience in micro- and optoelectronics at the Pozitron Corporation, Leningrad. Since 1986 she has been the Ioffe Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, where she also received her the second scientific degree (Doctor of Physical-Mathematical Sciences - Habilitation) in 2008. She is the author of over 180 papers and her current research interests are focused on the physics of nanostructures, plasmonics, and photonics.