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ISSUES TO ADDRESS...
• What phenomena occur when light is shined on a material?

• What determines the characteristic colors of materials?

• Why are some materials transparent and others

are translucent or opaque?
• Optical applications:
-- luminescence
-- photoconductivity
-- solar cell
-- optical communications fibers
• How does a solar cell operate?
• How does a LED operate?
• How does a laser operate?
• Why Optical Fiber are necessary for communication?
 Optical Properties
Light has both particulate and wavelike characteristics The spectrum of Electromagnetic Radiation
– Photon - a quantum unit of light

hc
E = h =

E = energy of a photon
 = wavelength of radiation
 = frequency of radiation
 ε0 electric permittivity &
h = Planck’ s constant (6.62 x 10 −34 J  s)
c = 1/(00) μ0 Magnetic permeability
c = speed of light in a vacuum (3.00 x 10 m/s) 8
of a vacuum
 Interactions of Light with Solids
Incident light is reflected, absorbed, scattered, and/or transmitted:
I0 = IT + IA + IR + IS
(W/m2)
Io is the intensity of incident light and subscripts refer to
transmitted, absorbed, reflected and scattered


Reflected: IR Absorbed: IA The reflectivity R represents the fraction of the incident light (I0) that is
reflected at the interface (IR)
Transmitted: IT • Optical classification of materials:
Incident: I0 Translucent
Scattered: IS Transparent
Opaque

single
crystal
polycrystalline
porous
polycrystalline dense

Photograph showing the light transmittance of three aluminum oxide specimens. From left to right: single-
crystal material (sapphire), which is transparent; a polycrystalline and fully dense (nonporous) material,
which is translucent; and a polycrystalline material that contains approximately 5% porosity, which is opaque
 Attenuation
As a beam of light passes through a material it gradually loses intensity due to scattering or absorption, a
process generally called attenuation (extinction)
The amount of light transmitted by a plate of thickness x is given by (Lambert’s or Beer’s law)
The intensity I at a distance x = αe = attenuation coefficient

Attenuation- chemical or physical centres, which may be

atoms, molecules or larger particles

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 Optical Properties of Metals: Absorption
Absorption of photons by electron transitions:
• So what happens to the excited atoms in the surface layers of metal atoms? they relax again, emitting a photon
• The energy lost by the descending electron is the same as the one originally incident
Mechanism of photon absorption for metallic materials • In terms of electrostatics, the field of the radiation causes
the free electrons to move and a moving charge emits
electromagnetic radiation hence the wave is re-emitted =
reflected

(a) an electron is excited into a higher-energy unoccupied state. The change in energy of the
electron ΔE is equal to the energy of the photon. (b) Reemission of a photon of light by the direct
transition of an electron from a high to a low energy state.
• This structure for metals means that almost any frequency of light can be absorbed
• Since there is a very high concentration of electrons, practically all the light is absorbed
Water: 32 cm ; glass: 29 cm
within about 0.1µm of the surface - Metal films thinner than this will transmit light
Graphite: 0.6 µm = 600 nm
Penetration depths (I/I0 = 1/e) for some materials are: Gold: 0.15µm = 150 nm
 Optical Properties of Metals
Reflectivity = IR /I0 is between 0.90 and 0.95. (metal reflects the light very well)
• metals are both opaque and reflective
• the remaining energy is usually lost as heat

The metal appears “silvery”

since it acts as a perfect
mirror

OK then, why are gold and copper not silvery?

– because the band structure of a real metal is not always as simple as we have assumed
– there can be some empty levels below EF and the energy re-emitted from these absorptions is not in the
visible spectrum
• Metals are more transparent to very high energy radiation (x- & - rays) when the inertia of the electrons
themselves is the limiting factor
 Optical Properties of Nonmetals
Nonmetallic materials may be transparent to visible light: electron energy band structures in addition to reflection and absorption,
refraction and transmission phenomena also considered
electron cloud
• Transmitted light distorts no
transmitted
distorts
transmitted + +
electron clouds. light light

Refraction: light that is transmitted into the interior of transparent materials experiences a decrease in velocity
and, as a result, is bent at the interface • The velocity of light in a material is lower than in a vacuum.
n= c (velocity of light in vacuum)

index of refraction v (velocity of light in medium)

The effect of refractive index on the

wavelength of light. The wavelength
is compressed in materials with a
high refractive index.

To overcome this it is useful to define the optical path or

optical thickness [d], and distinguish it from the real or
physical thickness of a material, t. The relationship is given
by:
 Dispersion
The refractive index
of a solid varies with
wavelength called
(normal) dispersion.

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 Reflectivity of Nonmetals
The reflectivity R represents the fraction of the incident light (I0) that is reflected at the interface (IR)

• The amount of light reflected from a single surface at normal

incidence is given by the coefficient of reflection, r:

• Incident amplitude a0 , amplitude of the reflected wave = ra0

• Irradiance, I0, the flux of radiant energy per unit area, is proportional to the square
of the amplitude (a0)2 2
Reflected irradiance is proportional to (ra0)

R, for a plate of a transparent material of refractive index n in air

For glass with
4% of the light is immediately reflected from the
surface

Light impinges normally on an absorbing material

index of absorption (k)
 Selected Light Absorption in Semiconductors
Absorption of light of frequency  by electron transition occurs if h > Egap

Examples of photon energies: blue light: h = 3.1 eV

red light: h = 1.8 eV
Visible spectrum
• If Egap < 1.8 eV, all light absorbed; material is opaque (e.g., Si, GaAs)
(1.8 and 3.1 eV)
• If Egap > 3.1 eV, no light absorption; material is transparent and colorless
• If 1.8 eV < Egap < 3.1 eV, partial light absorption; material is colored
 Selected Light Absorption
Interactions with light radiation with wide band gap semiconductor, dielectric solids having defects or
impurity states

(a) Photon absorption via a valence band–conduction band electron excitation for a material that has an impurity level that lies within
the band gap. (b) Emission of two photons involving electron decay first into an impurity state and finally to the ground state. (c)
Generation of both a phonon and a photon as an excited electron falls first into an impurity level and finally back to its ground state.
 Light Absorption and Transmission
Intensity of non-absorbed radiation — dependence on the absorption coefficient and the distance light
traverses through the absorbing medium
− 
The amount of light absorbed by a material is IT =I 0 e
 = absorption coefficient, cm-1  = sample thickness, cm
I 0 = incident light intensity, IT = transmitted light intensity TRANSMISSION

For an incident beam that impinges on the

front surface of a specimen of thickness l
and absorption coefficient β, the
transmitted intensity is

R is the reflectance
Desired optical response as a function of wavelength in assorted applications
Refractive indices and ranges of transparency

Spectral region of high

transparency in dielectric
films. Indices of
refraction are given at
the indicated
wavelength

AR= Antireflection
Single photon sources for quantum computers
 Color of Nonmetals
Color determined by the distribution of wavelengths:
-- re-emitted light from electron transitions
-- transmitted light
• Combination of different wavelengths of light is
called additive coloration
• Example 1: Green Glass
• Example 2: CdS, Eg = 2.4 eV
-- absorbs higher energy visible light (blue, violet)
-- color results from
red/orange/yellow light that is transmitted
• Example 3:
Ruby = Sapphire (Al2O3) + (0.5 to 2) at% Cr2O3
-- Sapphire is transparent and colorless (Eg > 3.1 eV)
-- adding Cr2O3 : alters the band gap
• blue and orange/yellow/green light is absorbed
• red light is transmitted
• Result: Ruby is deep red in color
 Total Internal Reflectance

n1 sin 2
=
n2 < n1 2 n2 sin1
n2
1 = incident angle
n1
 2 = refracted angle

c = critical angle
c Total Internal Reflectance

1 c exists when 2 = 90°

For 1 > c light is internally reflected

• Fiber optic cables are clad in low n material so that light will experience total internal

reflectance and not escape from the optical fiber.
Computations of Minimum Wavelength
Absorbed
(a) What is the minimum wavelength absorbed by
Ge, for which Eg = 0.67 eV?

Solution:
hc (6.63 x 10−34 J s)(3 x 10 8 m/s)
 Ge (min) = =
E g (Ge) (0.67 eV)(1.60 x 10−19 J/eV )

Ge (min) = 1.86 x 10 -6 m = 1.86 m


(b) Redoing this computation for Si which has a band gap
of1.1 eV
Si (min) = 1.13 m

Note: the presence of donor and/or acceptor states allows for light
absorption at other wavelengths.

 Example: Diamond in air
• What is the critical angle c for light passing from diamond
(n1 = 2.41) into air (n2 = 1)?
• Solution: At the critical angle, 1 = c
and 2 = 90
n1 sin 2
Rearranging the equation =
 n2 sin1
 n2 n2
sin1 = sinc = sin(90) =
n1 n1

Substitution gives
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 sin c = c = 24.5
2.41