Abstract:
I present an overview is presented of the fundamentals of large-polaron physics, which provide the basis of the analysis of polaron effects in semiconductor nanostructures. The emphasis is on the polaron optical absorption. As illustrative examples, I consider polaron effects in quantum wells (the polaron binding energy and effective mass; many-electron effects and cyclotron resonance) and polaron effects in semiconductor quantum dots (the optical absorption and the effects of non-adiabaticity).