Abstract

A number of chapters in this handbook refer to, or rest on, the control of nanocluster (NC) size and size distribution, i.e., the first and second moments of the NC population. In fact, the entire, detailed shape of the NC size distribution is often very important. Its effect has actually been used for thousands of years. The colors of ancient or medieval glasses are generally due to the semiconducting or metallic NCs that they contain, and the varying shades of beautiful colors that we marvel at are most often due to the empirical control obtained by glass-makers, via complex heat treatments, over NC sizes and size distributions. Today, these parameters are known to bear critically on such important properties as the optical emission linewidth or the magnetic anisotropy distribution. The obtention of narrow size distributions is also crucial to the fabrication of three-dimensional NC arrays in solar cells, photodetectors, or other photonic devices. Control over these parameters requires that we understand and monitor the physical processes that determine them. Our purpose in this chapter is to summarize the present status in this regard.