Abstract
When trapped in a crystal, light interacts with electrons, phonons (crystal lattice vibrations) and defects, generating many effects which are important not only for pure physics, by broadening our comprehension of nature, but also for practical applications. These include: photo-galvanic effects; discrete light scattering on lattice vibrations; laser radiation, first observed in ruby crystals; nonlinear effects resulting in generation of harmonics, so that under incidence of an intense coherent light beam onto a crystal it emits (or reflects) light of different wavelengths; transformation of the electron avalanche in semiconductors and semiconductor microstructures into the flow of coherent 'laser' light; and the capability of polarized light to magnetize electrons and nuclei in a crystal. This is far from being a complete list of the remarkable optical effects that scientists have observed and studied in crystals. Countless scientific papers and monographs have been devoted to these investigations, with quite a number of them leading to the award of Nobel Prizes.
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