Fundamentals and Applications of Isotope Effect in Modern Technology

Abstract

Different crystals (semiconductors and insulators) with varying isotopic composition have been recently grown. I discuss here the effect of isotopic mass and isotopic disorder on the properties (vibrational, elastic, thermal and optical) of different crystals. The main applications of the stable isotopes are included self-diffusion, neutron transmutative doping (NTD) of different semiconductors, optical fibers, isotope-based quantum computers, etc. Because of space limitations this discussion will not exhaustive. I hope however, to give sufficient references to published work so that the interest reader can easily find the primary literature sources to this rapidly expanding field of solid state physics.