Chapter 5

Optical Properties of
Materials
 Part I

Introduction
 Classification of Optical Processes
refractive index
n() = c / v ()

Snell’s law

absorption
~ resonance

luminescence
Optical medium
~ spontaneous
emission
a. Specular
• Reflection
elastic and
b. Total internal Inelastic
c. Diffused scattering
• Propagation
nonlinear-optics
• Transmission
Optical medium

Propagation
 General Optical Process
• Incident light is reflected, absorbed, scattered, and/or
transmitted

Absorbed: IA
Reflected: IR
Transmitted: IT
Incident: I0
Scattered: IS

I0  IT  IA  IR  IS

Conservation of energy
Optical Classification of Materials

Transparent
Translucent
Opaque
 Optical Coefficients
If neglecting the scattering process, one has

I 0  IT  I A  I R

Coefficient of reflection (reflectivity)

Coefficient of transmission (transmissivity)

Coefficient of absorption (absorbance)

 Absorption – Beer’s Law
dx

I0
I(x)

Beer’s law

0 x
l

a is the absorption coefficient (dimensions are m-1).

 Types of Absorption
• Atomic absorption: gas like materials
The atoms can be treated as harmonic oscillators, there is a
single resonance peak defined by the reduced mass and spring
constant.

v
v0
 Types of Absorption
• Electronic
Paschen

absorption
Due to excitation
or relaxation of
the electrons in the
atoms
Molecular Materials
Organic (carbon containing) solids
or liquids consist of molecules which
are relatively weakly connected to
other molecules. Hence, the
absorption spectrum is dominated by
absorptions due to the molecules
themselves.
 Molecular Materials

Absorption Spectrum of Water

 Molecular Materials
• Electronic absorption – molecular orbital transition
 Solid State Materials
Electron transition – energy band structures
 Solid State Materials
Conductors
Almost any frequency of light can be absorbed
Since there is a very high concentration of electrons,
practically all the light is absorbed within about 0.1μm of
the surface
The metal reflects the light very well – about 95% for most metals

The metal appears “silvery” since it acts as a perfect mirror

 Solid State Materials
Conductors
Flat

Reflect more red

 Solid State Materials
Semiconductor and dielectrics

Dielectrics and semiconductors behave essentially the same

way, the only difference being in the size of the bandgap
 Solid State Materials
Semiconductor and dielectrics
 Solid State Materials
Semiconductor and dielectrics
Impurity levels divide up the bandgap to allow transitions with
energies less than Eg
Recombination can be either radiative (photon) or non-radiative
(phonon) depending on the transition probabilities
Practical p-n diodes usually contain a small amount of impurity to
help recombination because Si has a relatively low recombination
“efficiency”