Abstract

1. Introduction Part I. Concepts and Properties: 2. The interaction of radiation with matter 3. General properties of the optical constants 4. The medium: correlation and response functions 5. Metals 6. Semiconductors 7. Broken-symmetry states of metals Part II. Methods: 8. Techniques: general considerations 9. Propagation and scattering of electromagnetic waves 10. Spectroscopic principles 11. Measurement configurations Part III. Experiments: 12. Metals 13. Semiconductors 14. Broken-symmetry states of metals Appendix A. Fourier and Laplace transformation Appendix B. Medium of finite thickness Appendix C. k.p perturbation theory Appendix D. Sum rules Appendix E. Non-local response Appendix F. Dielectric response in reduced dimensions Appendix G. Important constants and units.