Semi-uniform stability of operator semigroups and energy decay of damped waves

Only in the last fifteen years or so has the notion of semi-uniform stability, which lies between exponential stability and strong stability, become part of the asymptotic theory of $C_0$-semigroups. It now lies at the very heart of modern semigroup theory. After briefly reviewing the notions of exponential and strong stability, we present an overview of some of the best known (and often optimal) abstract results on semi-uniform stability. We go on to indicate briefly how these results can be applied to obtain (sometimes optimal) rates of energy decay for certain damped second-order Cauchy problems.