In dieser Arbeit wurde eine Tandemsolarzelle aus III-V-Halbleitern auf der Gitterkonstanten von InP mit einem neuartigen Tunnelkontakt entwickelt. Für die Entwicklung der monolithischen Präparation wurden insbesondere kritische Hetero-Grenzflächen im Bereich des Tunnelkontaktes mit oberflächensensitiven Messmethoden untersucht. Die Tandemsolarzelle bestand aus Einzelsolarzellen mit Absorberschichten aus InGaAs (E_g=0,73eV) und InGaAsP (E_g=1,03eV), deren Serienverschaltung mit einem Tunnelkontakt erfolgte, der aus einer n-InGaAs- und einer p-GaAsSb-Schicht bestand. Die Halbleiterschichten wurden mit metallorganischer Gasphasenepitaxie (MOCVD) einkristallin auf einem InP(100)-Substrat gitterangepasst präpariert. Insbesondere wurde der Einfluss der Präparation von InGaAs-Oberflächen auf die Schärfe der InGaAs/GaAsSb-Grenzfläche in-situ mit RAS und nach einem kontaminationsfreien Transfer ins UHV mit UPS, XPS und LEED untersucht. Dabei konnten erstmals drei verschiedene Rekonstruktionen der MOCVD-präparierten InGaAs-Oberfläche beobachtet werden, die von der Heiztemperatur abhängig waren: eine As-reiche (4x3)-, eine InGa-reiche (2x4)- und eine ebenfalls InGa-reiche (4x2)/c(8x2)-Rekonstruktion. Danach erfolgte die Untersuchung des Wachstums von dünnen GaAsSb-Schichten auf diesen drei InGaAs-Oberflächen. Anhand des Sb/As-Verhältnisses im GaAsSb konnte die Präparation auf der (4x3)-rekonstruierten Oberfläche als die schlechteste beurteilt werden. Abschließend wurden Tandemsolarzellen mit verschieden dicken Absorberschichten der InGaAsP-Topzelle gefertigt. Der höchste Wirkungsgrad einer hier hergestellten Tandemsolarzelle betrug 7,3% unter einem gefilterten Sonnenspektrum, das eine GaAs-basierte Tandemsolarzelle mit großen Bandlücken (E_g>1,4eV) simulierte. Die Kombination einer solchen Tandemsolarzelle mit der hier entwickelten InGaAs/InGaAsP-Tandemsolarzelle hat das Potential, für konzentriertes Sonnenlicht eine Konversionseffizienz von deutlich über 40% zu erreichen. / A monolithic low band gap tandem solar cell made up of III-V semiconductors lattice matched to InP and including a novel tunnel junction was developed. Critical hetero interfaces were investigated in detail, in particular the ones related to the tunnel diode. The tandem solar cell was composed of single junction cells with InGaAs (E_g=0.73eV) and InGaAsP (E_g=1.03eV) absorber layers. The serial connection of the subcells was realized by using a tunnel junction including n-InGaAs and p-GaAsSb layers. Metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) was used to prepare the III-V layers lattice matched on InP(100) substrates. In particular, the influence of the preparation of the InGaAs surface on the sharpness of the InGaAs/GaAsSb interface was investigated in-situ by Reflection Anisotropy Spectroscopy (RAS). After a contamination free transfer to UHV the samples were analyzed by UPS, XPS and LEED. Three different surface reconstructions of MOVPE-prepared InGaAs were determined for the first time: an As-rich (4x3)-, an InGa-rich (2x4) and an also InGa-rich (4x2)/c(8x2)-reconstructed surface. In a second step, the growth of thin GaAsSb layers on the three different InGaAs surfaces was studied. The Sb/As-ratio in the GaAsSb layer indicated that the preparations on the InGa-rich surfaces result in a sharper interface. Finally, tandem solar cells with different thicknesses for the absorber layer of the top cell were produced. The highest efficiency obtained for the tandem solar cell was 7.3%, when measured under a filtered solar spectrum to simulate the operation below a GaAs-based tandem solar cell (E_g>1.4eV). The combination of a high band gap tandem solar cell with the InGaAs/InGaAsP tandem solar cell developed here is estimated to reach under a concentrated solar spectrum a total efficiency of more than 40% after further optimization steps.

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While the free electron model can often be surprisingly successful in describing properties of solids, there are plenty of materials in which interactions between electrons are too significant to be neglected. These strongly correlated systems sometimes exhibit rather unexpected, unusual and useful phenomena, understanding of which is one of the aims of condensed matter physics. Heat capacity measurements of paramagnetic YFe$_{2}$Ge$_{2}$ give a Sommerfeld coefficient of about 100 mJ mol$^{−1}$ K$^{−2}$, which is about an order of magnitude higher than the value predicted by band structure calculations. This suggests the existence of strong electronic correlations in the compound, potentially due to proximity to an antiferromagnetic quantum critical point (QCP). Existence of the latter is also indicated by the non-Fermi liquid T$^{3/2}$ behaviour of the low temperature resistivity. Below 1.8 K a superconducting phase develops in the material, making it a rare case of a non-pnictide and non-chalcogenide iron based superconductor with the 1-2-2 structure. This thesis describes growth and study of a new generation of high quality YFe$_{2}$Ge$_{2}$ samples with residual resistance ratios reaching 200. Measurements of resistivity, heat capacity and magnetic susceptibility confirm the intrinsic and bulk character of the superconductivity, which is also argued to be of an unconventional nature. In order to test the hypothesis of the nearby QCP, resistance measurements under high pressure of up to 35 kbar have been conducted. Pressure dependence of the critical temperature of the superconductivity has been found to be rather weak. μSR measurements have been performed, but provided limited information due to sample inhomogeneity resulting in a broad distribution of the critical temperature. While the superconductivity is the result of an effective attraction between electrons, under different circumstances the electronic properties of a system can instead be dictated by the Coulomb repulsion. This is the case for another transition metal based compound NiS$_{2}$, which is a Mott insulator. Applying hydrostatic pressure of about 30 kbar brings the material across the Mott metal-insulator transition (MIT) into the metallic phase. We have used the tunnel diode oscillator (TDO) technique to measure quantum oscillations in the metallised state of NiS$_{2}$, making it possible to track the evolution of the principal Fermi surface and the associated effective mass as a function of pressure. New results are presented which access a wider pressure range than previous studies and provide strong evidence that the effective carrier mass diverges close to the Mott MIT, as expected within the Brinkman-Rice scenario and predicted in dynamical mean field theory calculations. Quantum oscillations have been measured at pressures as close to the insulating phase as 33 kbar and as high as 97 kbar. In addition to providing a valuable insight into the mechanism of the Mott MIT, this study has also demonstrated the potential of the TDO technique for studying materials at high pressures.