Relaxations of Excited States and Photo-Induced Phase Transitions

Here, 28 worldwide renowned physicists and chemists report recent topics related to this quite new theme from the view points of both material science and solid-state spectroscopy.

I General Theory for Photo-Induced Phase Transitions.- Multistabilities of the Ground States, Proliferations of Excitons and Photo-Induced Structural Phase Transitions.- The Instabilities of Excitons in Deformable Lattice and the Photo-Induced Phase Transition.- Hierarchy of Formation of Nanometer Clusters and Periodic Defect- Deformational Structures in Solids Under the Action of Laser Beam.- Photo-Induced Structure Changes of Quasi-one-dimensional Organic Crystals.- Mean-Field Theory of Photo-Induced Structural Phase Transitions.- II Optical Excitations and Photo-Induced Phenomena in BaBiO3, La2CuO4 and Other Perovskites.- Spectroscopic Study of a 3d Peierls Insulator in BaBiO3.- Evidence of Polaronic Deformations in High TcMaterials Observed by Photo-Induced IR Absorption and Photo-Induced XAS.- III Optical Excitations, Lattice Relaxations and Photo- Induced Phenomena in M-X Chains.- Relaxation Processes of Photo-Excited States in Wide-Gap MX Chain.- Solitons, Polarons and Excitons in MX Chains.- Lattice Relaxations Yielding Nonlinear Excitations in Photo-Excited MX Chains.- IV Optical Excitations, Lattice Relaxations and Photo- Induced Phenomena in Polymers.- Domain-Wall Dynamics of Photo-Induced Phase Transition in Polydiacetylene Single Crystals.- Dynamics of Excitons in Polymer Solids.- Lattice Relaxation of Photo-Excited States in Conjugated Polymers.- V Neutral-Ionic Transitions in Charge-Transfer Salts.- Structural Properties, Dynamics and Pressure Effects at the Neutral-to-Ionic Transition.- Neutral-to-Ionic Transformation as Condensation and Solidification of Charge-Transfer Excitations.- Optical and Related Properties of Organic Charge-Transfer Crystals: An Overview of Experimental Results.- Theory of the Neutral-to-Ionic Transition of Quasi-one-dimensional Charge-Transfer Compounds.- VI Nonlinear Excitations in Charge-Transfer Salts.- Exciton Strings and Exciton Mediated Carrier Transport in a Quasi-one-dimensional Organic Charge-Transfer Crystal.- Photophysics of Charge-Transfer Solids and ?-Conjugated Polymers.- VII Optical Excitations and Lattice Relaxations in Alkali Halides, Semiconductors and Amorphous Solids.- Femtosecond Time-Resolved Studies of Dynamics of Structural Changes Induced by Electronic Excitation in Alkali Halide Crystals.- Theoretical Studies of the Models of Self-Trapped Excitons and Holes in Ionic Crystals.- Photo-Induced Structural Changes in Amorphous Semiconductors.- ab initio Electronic Structure Calculation of Atomic Displacement of Defects in Semiconductors Induced by Electronic Excitation.- Symmetry-Breaking Electronic-Atomic Processes in s-p Bonding Materials.- VIII Optical Properties of Fullerenes and Photo-Induced Polymerization.- Lattice Relaxations Theory of Localized Excitations and Applications to Fullerenes.- Exciton Relaxation and Electron Pairing in Fullerene.- Photochemical Transformations and Polymerization in Solid C60.- Ultrafast Relaxation of Excitons and Photopolymerization Process in Fullerenes.- Index of Contributors.