ZnO rediscovered — once again!?

Abstract

In an introductory chapter we shortly review the history of ZnO research and the motivations for the present renaissance of the worldwide interest in this II–VI compound. Then we concentrate on the following topics: band structure, excitons and polaritons, luminescence dynamics, high excitation effects like biexcitons or the transition to an electron–hole plasma, and finally lasing. We finish with a short conclusion and outlook.