ZnO rediscovered - once again!?

In an introductory chapter we shortly review the history of ZnO research and the motivations for the present renaissance of the worldwide interest in this II-VI compound. Then we concentrate on the following topics: band structure, excitons and polaritons, luminescence dynamics, high excitation effects like biexcitons or the transition to an electron-hole plasma, and finally lasing. We finish with a short conclusion and outlook.