Optical Properties of Materials

Aim of the course:
This course mainly deals with the optical properties of solids.  It will start from classical description on optical transmission and reflection, followed by simple quantum description on absorption and emission of photons from materials and apply them to explain various interesting effects of interaction between light and different materials.
The solid materials in this course include semiconductor, metal, low dimensional material, insulator and amorphous material, such as organics and glass.

Text books:
A.M. Fox, Optical Properties of Solids, 2nd Ed., 2010, Oxford University Press
Semiconductor physics and devices, Basic principles, 4th ed. Donald A. Neamen, McGraw-Hill, (2011)

Syllabus
1. Introduction to the Fundamental Optical Properties of Materials
1.1  Optical materials
1.2  Propagation of light in an optical medium
1.3  The dipole oscillator model for the optical constants and refractive index
1.4  Local field corrections
1.5  The Kramers-Kronig relationships and dispersion
1.6  Optical anisotropy: birefringence
1.7  Chirality

2. Energy band theory of solid
2.1  Introduction to crystal structure
2.2  Introduction to Bloch function
2.3  Kronig Penney’s model and implication of band structure
2.4  Introduction to time-independent Perturbation theory
2.5  General solution for a periodic potential system
2.6  k.p approximation

3. Quantum model of light-matter interaction
3.1  Introduction to time-dependent Perturbation theory
3.2  Harmonic field interaction
3.2.1 Stimulated emission and stimulated absorption
3.2.2 Fermi’s golden rule
3.3  Einstein three optical processes with atoms
3.4  Interaction of atoms with radiation: semi-classical treatment
3.5  Dipole approximation and oscillator strength
3.6  Evaluation of transition matrix element in semiconductor

4  Interband absorption in semiconductor
4.1 Joint Density of States
4.2 Interband absorption coefficient in semiconductor
4.3 Franz-Keldysh effect
4.4 Band edge absorption in a magnetic field
4.5 Spin Injection in semiconductors
4.6 Band edge absorption in indirect gap semiconductors

5  Luminescence
5.1 Light emission in solids
5.2 Relationship between absorption and emission
5.3 Band to band recombination
5.4 Degeneracy (high carrier density)
5.5 Photoluminescence spectroscopy

6. Quantum confined structures
6.1 Fabrication of quantum confined structures
6.2 Semiconductor quantum wells
6.3 Quantum confined Stark effect (QCSE)
6.4 Intersubband transitions
6.5 Quantum dots (QD)
6.6 Semiconductor doped glasses

7. Concept of Excitons
7.1 Types of excitons
7.2 Wave function of exciton
7.3 Exciton absorption
7.4 Free exciton in external electric or magnetic fields
7.5 Free excitons at high densities
7.6 Frenkel excitons

8. Concept of Phonons
8.1 Infrared active phonons
8.2 The Lyddane-Sachs-Teller relationship and Reststrahlen
8.3 Polariton: coupled phonon-photon waves
8.4 Polarons: coupled electron-phonon
8.5 Inelastic light scattering: Raman and Brillouin scattering
8.6 Phonon lifetime

9. Free electrons
9.1 Plasma reflectivity
9.2 Free carrier conductivity
9.3 Metals
9.4 Doped semiconductor
9.5 Plasmons and surface plasmon-polariton
9.6 Negative refraction