When the author began working on phosphors based on rare-earth elements, he lacked an introductory textbook that explained the fundamental chemistry, basic optical properties, and magnetic characteristics of lanthanide elements. This book provides a concise overview of the rare-earth elements and is divided into two parts. In the first part, the reader receives an overview of solid-state chemistry and fundamental physical properties of these elements. Key topics of the first part include the separation chemistry of lanthanides, their chemical behaviour and physical properties. Then relevant compound classes are illustrated, crystal structures are systematically explained. The second part focuses on the optical and magnetic properties on relevant examples, also discussing many applications. Students and researchers new to the topic of 'Rare-Earth Elements' receive a comprehensive introduction to understand basic optical and magnetic properties and incentives for deeper studies.

Henning Höppe was born in 1972 in Nürnberg (Nuremberg, Germany). He studied Chemistry at the University of Bayreuth and earned his Ph.D. in 2003 under the supervision of Wolfgang Schnick at Ludwig-Maximilians-University München. His research during this time focused on phosphors based on divalent europium for white light-emitting diodes. From 2003 to 2004, he worked as a postdoc with Malcolm L. H. Green FRS at the University of Oxford. Afterward, he established his own research group at the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, where he remained until his appointment as a professor of solid-state chemistry and materials sciences at the University of Augsburg in 2010. His research primarily centres on exploratory solid-state chemistry of silicate-analogous compounds such as borosulfates, borophosphates, fluorooxoborates, and phosphates, with a particular emphasis on optical functional materials doped with lanthanides. To date, he has authored more than 110 original publications and has been involved in six patents.