The ubiquitous nature of chalcogenides in science and technology

In this chapter we review novel phenomena that occur in the chalcogenide family. Specifically, optical, electronic and magnetic properties displayed by bulk three dimensional (3D) chalcogenides compounds and alloys produced by equilibrium growth methods are discussed. 2D chalcogenide systems such as epitaxial films and more complex multilayers, whose formation is made possible by epitaxial methods and/or by van der Waals epitaxy, are presented in detail. In addition, we present a brief overview of optical, electronic and magnetic effects emerging as the dimensionality of chalcogenide materials is reduced to 1D (nanowires and related structures) and to zero-D (quantum dots formed by both self-assembly processes and colloidal chemical methods).