Volume 32 of the series addresses one of the most rapidly developing research fields in physics: microcavities. Microcavities form a base for fabrication of opto-electronic devices of XXI century, in particular polariton lasers based on a new physical principle with respect to conventional lasers proposed by Einstein in 1917. This book overviews a theory of all major phenomena linked microcavities and exciton-polaritons and is oriented to the reader having no background in solid state theory as well as to the advanced readers interested in theory of exciton-polaritons in microcavities. All major experimental discoveries in the field are addressed as well.·The book is oriented to a general reader and is easy to read for a non-specialist.·Contains an overview of the most essential effects in physics of microcavities experimentally observed and theoretically predicted during the recent decade such as:. ·Bose-Einstein condensation at room temperature.·Lasers without inversion of population.·Microcavity boom: optics of the XXI century!·Frequently asked questions on microcavities and responses without formulas. ·Half-light-half-matter quasi-particles: base for the future optoelectronic devices

PART I: Linear properties of microcavities
Chapter 1. Dispersion of cavity polaritons.
Chapter 2. Examples of microcavity systems.
Chapter 3. Disorder effect on cavity polaritons.
PART II: Non-linear optical properties of microcavities
Chapter 4 Photoluminescence of strongly coupled microcavities.
Chapter 5. Resonant excitation case and parametric amplification.
Chapter 6. Toward polariton Bose condensation and polariton lasers.