Nonlinear Electronic and Dynamical Response of Solids in the Ultrashort Time Domain

Abstract

This lecture departs from many of the others of this volume mostly because it concentrates on a comparison of experimental results with theory and because it is being presented by an experimentalist rather than by a theorist. Actually, the material which I present involves experimental results which have outpaced their theoretical basis, not in the sense that a theoretical basis does not exist, but rather that its application to the experimental situation is either too cumbersome to carry out or some components of the analysis, such as crystal potential or electronic wavefunctions, are not sufficiently known. Hence, a secondary task of mine is to indicate areas in the electronic and dynamical response of solids in which renewed efforts toward detailed, quantitative, theoretical approaches appear to be appropriate.