Crystal symmetry, lattice vibrations, and optical spectroscopy of solids. A group theoretical approach (Q2875210)

The authors show how group theory can be of help to get more insight in the lattice structure of crystals and their atomic vibrations. It is divided into three main parts. The first part, which is a background on group theory, introduces directly the application of the latter to crystals, as a result of the fact that periodic structures can be described by rotational and translational operations. In the second part, the authors introduce lattice vibration of crystals and then they study their thermodynamics and their effects on X-ray scattering and neutron scattering. The third and last part deals with the optical spectroscopy of crystals, and more especially deals with the interaction of radiation with matter, optical spectra of impurities in solids,the interaction of light with lattice vibrations, the relation between lattice vibration and lasers. Loosely speaking, all the astuteness of the book is a fair combination of group theory with the Hamiltonian of a crystal in solid comprising \(n\) electrons and \(N\) nuclei.