Components Used:

• A Quartz Vacuum Tube.

• Two metallic electrodes separated by a small distance (why?).
• Anode (collector) is wider to cover maximum possible area in the front side of cathode.
(why?)
• A variable voltage source (in volt range) (why?).
• An Ammeter to measure current.
• A light source whose intensity and frequency (color) of emission can be controlled.

Key Observations:
• If the frequency,𝞶 of the light used is less than a critical value 𝝼0 ( i.e. 𝞶 < 𝝼0 ),
irrespective of its intensity and duration of illumination and voltage V(small) applied,
there is no current for a particular material of the cathode..

• If the frequency,𝞶 of the light used is more than a critical value 𝝼0 ( i.e. 𝞶 > 𝝼0 ),
irrespective of its intensity and duration of illumination, for zero applied voltage(i.e.
V=0) there is non zero current for a particular material of the cathode.
• The current is observed almost as instantaneously as the illumination is applied i.e.
almost no delay.
• If the frequency,𝞶 of the light used is more than or equal to a critical value 𝝼0 ( i.e.
𝞶 ≥ 𝝼0 ), irrespective of its intensity and duration of illumination, the current becomes
zero for a particular reverse or negative applied voltage 𝑉0 across the electrodes for a
particular material of the cathode.
• If the frequency,𝞶 of the light used is more than or equal to a critical value 𝝼0 ( i.e.
𝞶 ≥ 𝝼0 ), the current becomes almost saturated at a particular value after sufficient
forward or positive applied voltage 𝑉 across the electrodes for a particular material of
the cathode for a particular intensity of light used.
• If the frequency,𝞶 of the light used is more than or equal to a critical value 𝝼0 ( i.e.
𝞶 ≥ 𝝼0 ), irrespective of its intensity and duration of illumination, the value of the
reverse or negative applied voltage 𝑉0 across the electrodes at which the current
becomes zero for a particular material of the cathode depends on the frequency of light
used.
• If the frequency,𝞶 of the light used is more than or equal to a critical value 𝝼0 ( i.e.
𝞶 ≥ 𝝼0 ), the current value at which it becomes almost saturated after sufficient
forward or positive applied voltage 𝑉 across the electrodes for a particular material of
the cathode depends only the intensity of light used and not on the frequency of light
used.
• The critical frequency value 𝝼0 is dependent on the material of the cathode.
• The maximum kinetic energy of any emitted electron is dependent on the material of
cathode and frequency of light used not on the intensity of light. This relation is given
1
by 𝐾𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 2 𝑚𝑒 𝑣𝑒2 = 𝑞𝑉0 = ℎ𝞶 − ɸ0 = ℎ(𝞶 − 𝞶0 ) where ɸ0 is work function of the
cathode metarial.
• Angular distribution of the photoelectrons is highly dependent on polarization of the
incident light, as well as the quantum properties such as atomic and molecular orbital
symmetries and the electronic band structure of the material of the cathode.

Fig. IV curve for different intensity but same frequency of light having 𝞶 ≥ 𝝼0 and for a
specific cathode material

Fig. IV curve for different frequency of light all having 𝞶 ≥ 𝝼0 with same intensity for a
specific cathode material
Fig. Maximum possible kinetic energy Vs frequency of light curve for different cathode
material at same intensity of light

Note:
All these observations were not explained by the classical wave theory as according to it there
should be photoemission once the energy accumulated given by the product of intensity and
time duration of illumination crosses the work function of the material irrespective of the
frequency of light used.

Explanations:
• Light is coming in the form of collection of photons with each such photon having
energy 𝐸 = ℎ𝞶 i.e. energy of the individual photons depend only on the frequency, not
on intensity and energy of EM waves is quantized or discrete.
• More intensity only means more number of such photons with the same individual
energy.
• One such photon interact with only one electron in the material and it is like inelastic
collision of particles.
 • If 𝐸 ≥ ɸ0 𝑜𝑟 𝞶 ≥ ν0 then after collision the photon comes to rest i.e. it gets absorbed
in the material and the electron collided with it receives the entire energy
instantaneously and comes out of the material with kinetic energy, 𝐾𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥 = ℎ𝞶 − ɸ0
in all possible direction.
• The direction of emitted photons
electron depends on polarization of the incident light, as well
as the quantum properties such as atomic and molecular orbital symmetries and the
electronic band structure of the material of the cathode very much like how orientation
of particles after collision depends on initial orientation of particles before collision.
• Some of the emitted electrons which are properly aligned can reach the anode due to
their kinetic energy causing current in the circuit even without applying any external
voltage i.e. V=0. So in order to collect maximum number of the electrons emitted by
the cathode, irrespective of its direction of ejection, we need the anode area to cover
maximum portion of the front side of the cathode.
• If we apply a forward voltage or positive voltage at anode, then it applies additional
attractive force on the emitted electrons to go towards it. As a result the misaligned
electrons also moves towards anode and ultimately reach anode causing an increase in
current. If sufficient positive voltage is applied then all the electrons emitted from
cathode will be collected at anode and current will reach a maxima or saturation
provided the distance between the electrodes is small enough so that the transit time of
such electrons between the electrodes does not create any limitation on the rate of
electrons (i.e. current) reaching the anode.
• If we apply a reverse voltage or negative voltage at anode, then it applies repulsive
force on the emitted electrons to get repelled by it. As a result some of the properly
aligned electrons also moves away from reaching the anode causing a decrease in
current. If sufficient negative voltage, 𝑉0 is applied then all the electrons emitted from
cathode will be effectively repelled by the anode so that no electron reach the anode
causing current to become zero. This voltage can be found from the relation,
1
𝑞𝑉0 = 𝐾𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 2 𝑚𝑒 𝑣𝑒2 = ℎ𝜈 − ɸ0 = ℎ(𝜈 − 𝜈0 )

• For 𝐸 ≥ ɸ0 , if more intensity light used than more no of electrons will come out
causing more no of electrons to reach anode thereby increasing the current.
• If 𝐸 < ɸ0 or 𝞶 < ν0 , the photon is unable to transfer the required energy to the electron
to come out of the material and hence no current irrespective of the intensity of light
and also the applied voltage between the electrodes. Note that here we want the applied
external voltage source to be in volt range only, not very high as kilo volt or more type
of voltage may result tunneling(another different mechanism to eject electron from
metallic surface) of electron from cathode to anode as these electrodes are separated by
a small distance.
Q. How many photons are there in 1mW He-Ne laser(wavelength 633 nm) of length 1m?
ℎ𝑐 1240 1240
Sol: Energy per photon associated with this laser = ℎ𝞶 = = eV = x1.6x10−19 J
𝞴 633 633

Power of the laser is 1mW i.e. the laser emits 1 mJ energy in 1 sec.
Velocity of EM wave is 3x108 m/sec i.e. within 1 sec the laser covers a distance of 3x108 m
So for this laser,
3 x108 m distance contains energy = 1mJ
10−3
1m distance contains energy = 3×108 J

633×10−3
No of photons in 1m of the laser = 3×108 ×1240×1.6×10−19 =

Q. In a photoelectric effect experimental setup, it is given that a green light of wavelength

522 nm is the longest wavelength radiation that can emit any electron from the cathode. If
an UV light of wavelength 250 nm and intensity 20 mW cm−2 is used in the set up and
there is sufficient positive bias applied in the anode to collect all the emitted photon then
find i) work function of the cathode material and ii) current density of the circuit.
Sol: Critical wavelength, 𝜆0 = 522 nm
ℎ𝑐 1240
Work function, ɸ0 = = eV
𝜆0 522

ℎ𝑐 1240 1240
Energy per photon of the light = ℎ𝜈 = = eV = x1.6x10−19 J
𝜆 250 250

Energy emitted 1 sec per cm−2 area = 20 mJ

20×10−3 ×250
No of electron emitted 1 sec per cm−2 area = 1240 ×1.6×10−19

20×10−3 ×250
Current density, J= 1240 ×1.6×10−19 × 1.6 × 10−19 A cm−2

Material –Light Interaction

• Interaction of photons with the electronic or crystal structure of a material may lead to
a number of phenomena.
• When light travels from one medium (material) into another, several things happen.
Broadly, some of the light radiation may be transmitted (refracted or scattered) through
the medium, some will be absorbed, and some will be reflected at the interface between
the two media.
• In photon analogy, the
incoming photons may give
their complete energy to the
material (absorption);
photons give their complete
energy, but photons of
identical energy are
immediately emitted by the
material (reflection);
photons may not give all the
energy to the material
 structure(transmission) but during transmission photons change their velocity
uniformly (refraction) or during transmission photons change their velocity or direction
randomly (scattering).
• At any instance of light interaction with a material, the total intensity of the incident
light(𝐼0 ) striking a surface is equal to sum of the absorbed(𝐼𝐴 ), reflected(𝐼𝑅 ), and
transmitted(𝐼𝑇 ) intensities i.e.
𝐼0 = 𝐼𝐴 + 𝐼𝑅 + 𝐼𝑇 or A+R+T=1 where A, R and T
represent, respectively, the absorptivity(𝐼𝐴 /𝐼0 ), reflectivity (𝐼𝑅 /𝐼0 ) and transmissivity
(𝐼𝑇 /𝐼0 ).
• Materials are classified on the basis of their
interaction with visible light into mainly three
categories:
i) Materials that are capable of transmitting light
with relatively little absorption and reflection are
called transparent materials i.e. we can see through
them. Basically they transmit through refraction.
ii)Translucent materials are those through which
light is transmitted diffusely i.e. light is scattered
within the interior, to the degree that objects are not
clearly distinguishable when viewed through.
iii)Those materials that are impervious to the
transmission of visible light are termed as opaque
materials. These materials absorb or reflect back all
the energy from the light photons.
• In general, most metals are opaque throughout the
entire visible spectrum; that is, all light radiation is
either absorbed or reflected.
• Most of electrically insulating materials can be
made to be transparent.
• Some semiconducting materials are transparent
whereas others are mostly opaque.
• The optical phenomena that occur within solid materials upon interactions with the
electromagnetic radiation are basically interactions of photons and atoms/ions/electrons
within.
• Most important among these interactions are i) Electronic polarization and ii) Electron
energy transitions.

Electronic Polarization:
• Electric field associated with EM waves interacts with the electron cloud surrounding
each atom within its path in such a way as to induce electronic polarization, or to shift
 the electron cloud
relative to the nucleus
of the atom with each
change in direction of
electric field
component.
• Consequences are :
i) Some of the radiation
energy may be
absorbed or wasted as
lattice vibrations (heat),
local vibrations of the
ions etc.
ii) Light waves are retarded in velocity as they pass through the medium i.e. refraction
takes place.
• Polarization is mainly observed in dielectric materials and hence di-electric materials
are mostly transparent.
[NOTE: SOLID FORMATION AND ITS BAND STRUCTURE:
• For solid formation, many initially independent atom comes close enough to each other
in order to form bonds.
• There is attraction of electron cloud of one with nucleus of the other and repulsive force
between two nucleus and also between two electron clouds.
• But initially attractive force dominates and they comes closer to each other.
• When these attraction force comes into effect from that moment the initially
independent atoms no longer remain independent electronic system but a part of a
common electronic system.
• So this disturbs the atomic orbitals and slowly the atomic orbitals (mostly the outermost
shell orbitals) start to split in order to accommodate more quantum states in the new
common electronic system following Pauli’s exclusion principle.
• Splitting of orbitals starts from the outermost shell as they are influenced by other atoms
first.
• At the optimum interatomic distance, which is known as bond length, the total attractive
force is balanced by the total repulsive forces and the overall potential energy of the
system becomes minimum possible and the material reaches equilibrium or the solid
has formed.
• In this moment the outer shell usually splits into two zone where the energy levels are
very closely spaced as if they can be considered continuous compared to the atomic
orbitals spacing and generally these regions are called conduction band and valence
band.
• Based on material, the spacing between the conduction band and valence band varies.]

Electron Energy Transitions:

• The absorption and emission of electromagnetic radiation may involve electron
transitions from one energy state to another.
• Mostly the valence shell (Conduction band and Valence Band) electrons generally
interact with external photons.
• Inside the solid, the allowed energy levels within the bands also are discrete i.e. only
specific Δ𝐸s exist between the energy levels.

Fig. Energy band formation in solids

• Thus only photons of frequencies
corresponding to the possible Δ𝐸s for the solid
can be either absorbed or emitted by electron
transitions so that Δ𝐸=ℎ𝜐.
• All materials show this result based on their
band structures.

Fig. Electronic transitions

 Metals Metals Insulators Semiconductors
(e.g. Cu, Au, Ag) (e.g. Al, Mg) (Bandgap > 2 eV) (Bandgap < 2 eV)

Fig. Band diagrams of different types of materials

Optical Properties of Metals:

• All metals contains partially filled high-
energy outer bands i.e. they inherently
contains loosely bound or free electrons.
• When photons having frequencies
within the visible range are directed at
metals, the entire photon energy can be
easily used to excite these electrons into
the unoccupied states above the Fermi
energy.
• Almost all frequencies of visible light
are absorbed by metals because of such
continuously available empty electron
states, which permit electron transitions.
• So metals are mostly opaque to the
visible light provided the thickness is in
mm range or above.
Fig. Photon absorption for electronic transition in metal
• Total absorption is within a very thin outer layer, i.e. penetration depth is usually less
than 0.1 µm so only metallic films thinner than 0.1 µm can be transparent to visible
light.
• The absorbed light is mostly again re-emitted from the metallic surface in the form of
visible light of almost same wavelength (i.e. reflected back) as excited electrons again
comes back to ground states directly without any intermediate states in between for the
same k value and small amount of energy is used for change in k value.
• The reflectivity for most metals is between 0.90 and 0.95.
• A very small fraction of the
energy from electron decay
processes is dissipated as heat
(lattice vibrations) i.e. phonon
emission for necessary change
of k.
• As metals are mostly opaque
and highly reflective, the
perceived color is determined
by the wavelength/frequency
distribution of the reflected
radiation.
• Some metals can reflect all
parts of the visible spectrum
i.e. for the reflected beam, the
composition of the reemitted
photons, in terms of frequency
and number, is approximately
Fig. Photon emission from electronic transition in metal
the same as for the incident beam and hence they appear to be of bright white silvery
color e.g. Al, Ag etc. It happens because these material band structure do not require
much change in k value for energy transition i.e. their band is steeply increasing with k
value.
• But some metals are not able to reflect all frequency photons equally and generally
higher frequency photons are less reflected or reflected with low intensity as some
transitions happens with intermediate states for same k value emitting the low
frequency lights. So such metals appear to be of low frequency color like yellow,
orange-red etc. e.g. Au, Cu etc. It happens because these material band structure require
slight more change in k value for energy transition i.e. their band is less steep with
increasing k value. So the portion of the transition happening for same k value only able
to emit light with less frequency than the absorbed one as slightly significant portion is
used for change in k value.
• X ray or ɣ ray usually transmitted through most of the metals as the frequency of such
light corresponds electronic transfer to some non-allowable region of energy between
top of conduction band and vacuum level the metal making them transparent to those
light.
• If light frequency incident is equal or more than to cause corresponding electronic
transfer to vacuum level or above than again the light will be absorbed but there will be
photoelectric emission of electrons from the metal and metal will again be opaque to
those light.
Optical Properties of Non-Metals:
• As the electron energy band structures involves a forbidden gap, electron transitions
may not be possible in some nonmetallic materials. Therefore, in addition to reflection
and absorption seen in metals, we may have transmission (refraction and scattering
phenomena) also i.e. absorption through both electronic polarization and band to band
electronic transitions are possible.
• So, nonmetallic materials may be either
opaque or transparent to visible light.
Absorption in non metals:
• Absorption of a photon of light may occur by
the excitation of an electron from the nearly
filled valence band, across the band gap, into
an empty state within the conduction band only
if the photon energy is greater than that of the
ℎ𝑐
band gap energy 𝐸𝑔 i. e. ℎ𝞶 > 𝐸𝑔 or > 𝐸𝑔 .
𝞴

Q. What are critical values of the band gap energy of any non metallic material to ensure that
it is completely transparent or completely opaque to visible light (390nm-770nm) ?
Solution:
ℎ𝑐 1240
For, 𝐸𝑔,𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 𝜆 = eV = 3.18 eV i.e. any non metallic material with band gap energy
𝑚𝑖𝑛 390
more than 3.18 eV are not able to absorb any portion of visible light for electronic transitions.
• These non metals are completely transparent to visible light and also they appear
colourless provided they are pure.
ℎ𝑐 1240
For, 𝐸𝑔,𝑚𝑖𝑛 = 𝜆 = eV = 1.61 eV i.e.
𝑚𝑎𝑥 770

any non metallic material with band gap energy less than 1.61 eV are able to absorb all portion
of visible light for electronic transitions.
• These non metals are completely opaque to visible light but their reflectivity depends
on possible transitions from excited state to ground states based on its E-K diagram.
• The colour of these non metals basically depends on the reflected spectrum.
• Only a portion of the visible spectrum is absorbed by the materials having band gap
energies between 1.61 eV and 3.18 eV and making those materials appear to be of
certain color.
• For Direct band gap non metal materials, after absorption, the extra energy above
bottom of conduction band is released in terms of phonon(change in K) emission/lattice
 heat generation/ Reststrahlen absorption and the rest band gap energy is expensed most
favorably in terms of photon (for same K value) emission as in pure state there are no
possible energy level in between to act as intermediate level for necessary change of K
for such energy transitions.
• So the frequency or wavelength corresponding to band gap is most abundant in reflected
spectrum causing the non metal to be of that particular color provided it lies in visible
range. Otherwise it will appear dark black.
• For Indirect band gap non metal materials, after absorption, the extra energy above
bottom of conduction band is released in terms of some phonon emission and the rest
band gap energy is also expensed in the form of another phonon(typically known as
high energy optical phonon) as both transition must associate related K change also.
• These non metals are mostly dark black in their purest form as all absorbed photon is
released in the form of lattice heat only i.e. no reflection.

• Most of the material in their natural state involves impurity and crystal defects which
introduce some allowed energy levels in between forbidden band also and such
electronic transitions are seen to be more favorable to occur through those intermediate
states and based on the position of these defects states in the E-K diagram determines
its reflective property or color.
  So optical properties of indirect band gap materials generally somewhat can be
controlled by manufacturer by introducing suitable impurity or defects.

Absorption in general:
• When an EM wave incident on any material(metal/non metal), the intensity of the net
absorbed radiation is dependent on both the character of the medium and the path length
travelled within.
• The intensity of transmitted or non absorbed radiation continuously decreases with
distance x that the light traverses as

𝐼𝑇′ = 𝐼𝑜′ 𝑒 −𝛽𝑥 where 𝐼𝑜′ is the intensity of the non

reflected incident radiation and 𝛽 is the absorption coefficient (typically in mm−1), which is
characteristic of the particular material.

• 𝛽 varies with wavelength of the incident radiation.

• The distance parameter x is measured from the incident surface into the material.
• Materials that have large values are considered highly absorptive.
1
• Most of the absorption(around 63%) occurs over a distance of 𝛽 and hence it is called
penetration depth,δ of the material i.e., 𝐼𝑇′ (x = δ) = 0.63𝐼𝑜′

• For an incident beam of intensity 𝐼𝑜 that impinges on the front surface of a specimen of
thickness l and absorption coefficient, the transmitted intensity at the back face 𝐼𝑇 is
 𝐼𝑇 = 𝐼𝑜 (1 − 𝑅)2 𝑒 −𝛽𝑙 where R is the reflectance
assuming that the same medium exists outside both front and back faces. It is known as
Bouguer’s law.

 By incorporating this total loss of intensity inside the specimen as 𝐼𝐴 , the general
relation between incident, reflected, transmitted and absorbed intensity can be given as
𝐼0 = 𝐼𝐴 + 𝐼𝑅 + 𝐼𝑇
Transmission of light through a material: Refraction
• When band structure allows EM waves to transmit through a material, the electric field
of that EM wave tries to polarize the atoms or molecules of the medium at the frequency
of the wave along its path.
• Propagation of the wave can be considered to be propagation of this polarization
process along its way and the field and the induced dipole moments get coupled.
• As the travelling electric field is oscillating so the electron cloud of the induced dipole
also oscillates at same frequency. (Nucleus also oscillates at same frequency but as it is
bulkier than electrons so it has less amplitude and can be neglected.) The oscillating
electron clouds produce another travelling EM wave whose oscillating electric field
interfere with the original electric field resulting a slower resultant wave packet and its
amplitude also changes.
• So propagation of the EM wave gets delayed and also changes direction of propagation
by the polarization mechanism i.e. refraction takes place.
• More polarization means more coupling and hence more refraction.
• The relative permittivity of any material is an indicator of how much it can get polarized
and hence it is related to measure of extent of refraction i.e. refractive index, η also.
• We know speed of EM waves in any
1
medium is, 𝑐 = and in vacuum
√𝜇𝜖
1
𝑐𝑜 = and refractive index
√ 𝜇𝑜 𝜖𝑜
𝑐𝑜 √𝜇𝜖
is, 𝜂 = = = √ 𝜇𝑟 𝜖 𝑟
𝑐 √ 𝜇 𝑜 𝜖𝑜

• So in non magnetic materials i.e.

𝜇𝑟 ≈ 1, 𝜂 ≈ √𝜖𝑟 .
• Snell’s law of refraction:
𝜂1 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝛳𝑟
=
𝜂2 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝛳𝑖
• Frequency of the EM wave coming
(transmitted) out remains same as incident wave after transmission.
Note: Frequency is the most basic or fundamental property of a wave i.e. identity of a
wave is its frequency which is same everywhere irrespective of material or position.
Other attributes of wave like wavelength, phase or amplitude etc. may vary based on
situations.
• In most non crystalline non metal materials like glass or other liquids, the refractive
index or relative permittivity is same in all directions and hence are called optically
isotropic.
• In most crystalline solid non metal materials, the refractive index or the relative
permittivity is direction specific and hence are called optically anisotropic.
• Cubic crystals like diamond are optically isotropic although they are crystalline solid
because of symmetric structure of cubic crystals.
Refractive Index-Wavelength or Dispersion Relations :
• In a solid, in absence of any
external field, usually the net
dipole moment of each atom is
zero.
• Electric field associated with EM
waves can interact with the
electron cloud surrounding each
atom within its path in such a way
to shift the electron cloud relative
to the nucleus of the atom with
each change in direction of
electric field component.
• Total force on electrons by the field F(𝑥) = −𝑍𝑒𝐸(𝑥) where Z is atomic no. of the
atom.
• The restoring force which is columbic attraction force between electrons and nucleus
can be considered linearly proportional to x provided x is very small i.e. 𝐹𝑟 (𝑥) = −𝛽𝑥
where 𝛽 is a material specific proportionality constant.

• Consider a DC field i.e. 𝐸(𝑥) = 𝐸𝑜 , 𝑍𝑒𝐸𝑜 = 𝛽𝑥

• Magnitude of induced dipole moment, 𝑃𝑖𝑛𝑑
𝑍 2𝑒 2
= 𝑍𝑒𝑥 = 𝐸
𝛽

• If electric fields is switched off then equation of motion that drives the system,
𝑑2 𝑥
−𝛽𝑥 = 𝑍𝑚𝑒 𝑑𝑡 2
𝛽 1⁄
• The solution is 𝑥(𝑡) = 𝑥𝑜 cos(ꞷ𝑜 𝑡) where ꞷ𝑜 = (𝑍𝑚 ) 2
𝑒

• So the electron cloud executes simple harmonic motion about the nucleus with a natural
or resonance frequency, ꞷ𝑜 which will eventually die out due to EM radiation loss of
accelerating charge when they are disturbed by any momentary field leaving it at any
non equilibrium position i.e. non zero net dipole moment condition.
Note: By this DC electric field calculation we have just defined or introduced the
concept of or what is meant by resonance frequency of the material.
• Now, consider the realistic condition of an oscillating field associated with the
incoming EM waves i.e. 𝐸 = 𝐸𝑜 exp(jꞷt)
• Equation of motion in the continuous presence of the field is now
𝑑2 𝑥
𝑍𝑚𝑒 2 = −𝑍𝑒𝐸𝑜 exp(jꞷt) − 𝛽𝑥
𝑑𝑡
• The solution is
𝑒𝐸 exp(jꞷt)
• 𝑥(𝑡) = − 𝑚 𝑜(ꞷ2 −ꞷ2 )
𝑒 𝑜

𝑃𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑍𝑒 2
• Now, 𝑃𝑖𝑛𝑑 = 𝑍𝑒𝑥(𝑡) ⇒ 𝑃𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝛼𝑒 = =𝑚 2 2
𝐸 𝑒 (ꞷ𝑜 −ꞷ )

• For ꞷ < ꞷ𝑜 , the polarizability,𝛼𝑒 increases with increase in frequency, ꞷ of the

incoming EM wave and tends to become very large as it approaches natural
frequency, ꞷ𝑜 but as the above relation is valid only for small x so ꞷ ≈ ꞷ𝑜 situations
are not applicable in this relation.
• The very simplified relation between relative permittivity, ∈𝑟 and polarizability, 𝛼𝑒 of
any material is
𝑁 𝑁 𝑍𝑒 2
• ∈𝑟 = 1 + ∈ 𝛼𝑒 = 1 + ∈ where N is atomic
𝑜 𝑜 𝑚𝑒 (ꞷ2𝑜 −ꞷ2 )
density.
• Again we know for any material, refractive index, η = √∈𝑟
 𝑁𝑍𝑒 2 1 𝑁𝑍𝑒 2 𝜆 𝜆2
• So η2 = 1 + (∈ ) (ꞷ2𝑜 −ꞷ2 )
= 1 + (∈ 𝑜 2
) (2𝜋𝑐 ) (𝜆2 −𝜆2𝑜 )
which is one of
𝑜 𝑚𝑒 𝑜 𝑚𝑒
the simplest dispersion relation between refractive index and wavelength of EM wave.
• It states that refractive index of any material is dependent on the wavelength of EM
wave and it usually increases significantly as frequency increases towards natural
frequency of the material.
• The above relation is very simplistic as we only considered the individual nucleus and
electron clouds of the atoms for deriving the relation, but in solid we know the electron
clouds overlap to form bonds and neighboring nucleus and electron clouds also have
influence on an atom.
• The complete analytical derivation for such situations are not possible and hence some
approximate empirical(curve fitting) relations are used.
• One such dispersion relation assumes a number of resonant frequencies(wavelengths)
𝜆1 , 𝜆2 , … 𝑒𝑡𝑐. to approximate multi atom interactions instead of single resonant
frequency 𝜆𝑜 and contribution from each resonant frequency component is summed up
using some empirical weighing factors 𝐴1 , 𝐴2 , … 𝑒𝑡𝑐. The corresponding dispersion
relation is
𝐴1 𝜆2 𝐴2 𝜆2 𝐴3 𝜆2
η2 = 1 + (𝜆2 −𝜆21 )
+ (𝜆2 −𝜆22 )
+ (𝜆2 −𝜆23 )
+⋯ where
𝐴1 , 𝐴2 , … 𝑒𝑡𝑐. and 𝜆1 , 𝜆2 , … 𝑒𝑡𝑐. are called Sellmeier’s coefficients.
• It is widely used to calculate refractive index of various materials at specific
wavelengths with Sellmeier’s coefficients being readily available in most of the
literatures in optics.
• There is another well known dispersion relation, proposed by Cauchy, which is
generally used to calculate refractive indices in the visible range for various optical
glasses(i.e. Sun glasses).
• It is given by-
𝐵 𝐶
η=A+ 𝜆2 + 𝜆4 where A, B and C are material specific
constants.
• A more general form of this Cauchy’s dispersion relation is also there which is
applicable for more wider range of EM waves and given by

• η= 𝑛−2 (ℎ𝜈)2 +𝑛𝑜 + 𝑛2 (ℎ𝜈)2 + 𝑛4 (ℎ𝜈)4 where 𝑛−2 ,

𝑛𝑜 , 𝑛2 and 𝑛4 are material specific constants.
Reflection in terms of refractive index:
• As we have seen the transmission(refraction) through a material, and hence refractive
index, is related to the wavelength of incident light which actually, in depth, is related
to the more fundamental characteristic properties of material like the band structure,
interatomic spacing etc. so refractive index is basically a very simplified macro level
 property(can be observed by bare human eye) attributed to a material based on its more
fundamental micro level properties.
• The extent of reflection or reflectivity of a material hence can also be expressed in terms
of refractive index of the material.
• So for normal incidence from medium 1 to 2 of an incident intensity of light(𝐼0 ) is
related to the reflected intensity of light(𝐼𝑅 ) through its reflectance or reflectivity(R) for
particular wavelength of light as
𝐼 𝜂 −𝜂
𝑅 = 𝐼𝑜 = (𝜂2 +𝜂1 )2
𝑅 2 1

Transmission of light through a material: Scattering

• For an inherently transparent non metallic material to show translucency depends on
mainly its internal reflectance and transmittance characteristics.
• Translucency basically means that a transmitted light beam may get deflected in
multiple directions and appears diffuse as a result of multiple scattering events inside
the material.
• In extreme case, such transparent material may become completely opaque when
virtually none of the incident beam transmitted out from the back surface is without
undeflected from its original direction as per front surface.
• This internal scattering is mainly due to presence of regions with different optical
transmission properties within. Such kind of materials are:
i) In polycrystalline non metal materials there is slight difference in refractive index
between adjacent grains that do not have the same crystallographic orientation causing
reflection and refraction to occur at grain boundaries, which causes a diversion in the
incident beam as it travel through the material.
ii) In two-phase materials having one phase finely dispersed within the other, the beam
dispersion occurs across the phase boundaries if there is a difference in the refractive
index for the two phases otherwise the material becomes completely transparent. e.g.
Glass-ceramics consisting of both crystalline and residual glass phases.
iii)In some ceramic materials some finely dispersed pores may remain as residual pore
due to fabrication process. These pores also effectively scatter light radiation.
iv) In intrinsic polymers, scattering of visible light occurs at the boundaries between
crystalline and amorphous regions, due to their different indices of refraction. For
highly crystalline specimens, this degree of scattering is extensive, which leads to
translucency, and, in some instances, even opacity while highly amorphous polymers
are completely transparent.
• Transparent materials may also appear colored as a consequence of specific wavelength
ranges of light that are selectively absorbed and the resultant color is a combination of
wavelengths that are transmitted.
• If absorption is uniform for all visible wavelengths, the material appears colorless.
• In some pure materials, when size of atoms or molecules of the solid becomes typically
less than one tenth or comparable to wavelength of incident light, some other type of
scattering can be observed which is either due to Rayleigh scattering or Mie scattering
respectively.
Various optical phenomena shown by materials and their applications:
i) Incandescence or thermal emission:
• When a material is heated, electrons are excited to higher energy levels, particularly in
the outer energy levels where the electrons are less strongly bound to the nucleus.
• These excited electrons, upon dropping back to the ground state, release photons in
process what is called incandescence or thermal emission.
• During thermal emission a continuous spectrum of radiation is emitted with a minimum
wavelength and the intensity distribution is dependent on the temperature.
• Higher the temperature, wider will be the range of wavelengths emitted.
• By measuring the intensity of a narrow band of the emitted wavelengths with a
pyrometer, material’s temperature can be estimated.
• Traditional electric bulbs (filament bulbs) used thermal emission resulting from Joule’s
heating.
ii) Photo-conductivity:
• Bombardment of semiconductors by photons, with energy equal to greater than the band
gap, may result in creation of electron-hole pairs that can be used to generate current.
This process is called photo-conductivity.
• It is different from photo-electric effect in the sense that an electron-hole pair is
generated whose energy is related to the band gap energy instead of free electron
generated alone whose energy is related to the Fermi level and vacuum level.
• The current produced in photo-conductivity is directly related to the incident light
intensity.
• This phenomenon is utilized in photographic light meters. Cadmium sulfide (CdS) is
commonly used for the detection of visible light, as in light meters.
• Photo-conductivity is also the underlying principle of the photo-voltaic cell, known to
common man as solar cell, used for conversion of solar energy (sunlight) into
electricity.
iii) Luminescence:
• Luminescence is the emission of visible light upon absorption of non thermal energy
and reemitting them in the form of visible light. It is due to electronic excitations and
relaxations.
• The absorbed energy may be supplied as electromagnetic radiation, electron beam,
mechanical, chemical energy etc.
• The materials which show luminescence are called Phosphors and most of them are
actually combination of a pure crystals or glass, called host matrix, and added
impurity/dopant/defect, called luminescent/luminescence centre/activator.
• Luminescence is classified according to the supplied source of energy as i)
Photoluminescence, ii) X-ray luminescence, iii) Cathodoluminescence, iv)
Electroluminescence etc.
• When the energy is supplied by photons of light(UV/visible/IR) then it is called
photoluminescence. e.g. fluorescent lamps(tubelights) where UV radiation generated
from electroluminescence from low-pressure mercury and argon arc is converted to
visible light by calcium halo-phosphate phosphor (Ca10F2P6O24). In commercial lamps,
about 20% of F-ions are replaced with Cl- ions for better performance. Addition of
Antimony, Sb3+, ions provide a blue emission while manganese, Mn2+, ions provide an
orange-red emission band.
• When the energy is supplied by energetic electrons(kinetic energy) coming out of a
cathode then it is called cathodoluminescence e.g. Cathode Ray Oscilloscope(CRO)
screen, Old TV screen, electron microscope etc. Commercial phosphors for different
colors are : RED–yttriumoxy-sulphide (Y2O2S) with 3% europium(Eu); GREEN–
ZnS/CdS with a Cu+ acceptor and Al3+ donor; BLUE–zinc sulphide (ZnS) with Ag+
acceptor and Cl- donor.
• When the energy is supplied directly by passage of electric current(electric energy) then
it is called electroluminescence. e.g LED where upon application of forward-biased
potential of relatively high magnitude across a p–n junction diode made up of some
special semiconductors results electrons and holes recombination at the junction
emitting usually monochromatic visible light (or IR light). LEDs can emit light of many
colors, from red to violet, depending on the composition of the semiconductor material
used. Ex.: GaAs, GaP, GaAlAs, and GaAsP are typical materials for LEDs. The
commercial inexpensive white LED bulbs basically uses a gallium indium
nitride(GaInN) based bright blue LED chip and a phosphor of yttrium aluminium
garnet(YAG)s (Y3Al5O12) as host and cerium(Ce) as activator to absorb some of the
blue lights emitted by the chip to produce yellow light. As yellow light is basically
combination of red and green so upon combination with unabsorbed blue light gives
the white light.
• When the energy is supplied by photons of X ray then it is called X-ray luminescence
e.g. X-ray detector screens.
• The intensity of luminescence after time t of removal of excitation is given as:
𝑡
𝐼(𝑡) = 𝐼𝑜 𝑒 −𝜏 where 𝐼𝑜 is intensity at t= 0
i.e. just when the excitation was removed and 𝜏 is relaxation time which is material specific
constant.
• Luminescence is classified according to the magnitude of the delay time between
absorption and reemission events i.e. based on relaxation time as well, as fluorescence
and phosphorescence.
• Usually if reemission occurs within times less than ten nanosecond, the phenomenon is
termed as fluorescence; for longer times, it is called phosphorescence (i.e. afterglow)
although there is no absolute boundary.
• Allowed energy level values of the activator inside the host material depends on the
band structure of the host as they together make the solid.
• Luminescence may occur through two different mechanisms in host-activator type
phosphors.

• i) Activator excitation: The electrons from ground state of activator i.e. E1 may get
transferred to some excited state, E2 upon receiving energy from the source.
• Soon it falls to a lower energy level 𝐸2′ nonradiatively i.e. through lattice heat
generation.
• Then spontaneously from 𝐸2′ it falls to a even lower energy level 𝐸1′ by emitting visible
light.
• Again very quickly, from 𝐸1′ it comes to ground state E1 non radiatively.
• Definitely there is a difference between absorbed frequency for excitation and emitted
radiation frequency i.e. 𝜈𝑒𝑥 − 𝜈𝑒𝑚 which is known as Stoke’s shift.
• The exact delay between absorption and emission depends on band structure(E-K
diagram) but generally not very high.
• ii) Host excitation: There may be different types of host excitation mechanisms but in
all, the host matrix first absorbs the energy from the source and transfers the valence
electrons to some excited state. From that it comes to bottom of conduction band, 𝐸𝑐 non
radiatively.
• a) From 𝐸𝑐 the electron may come to some activator energy(donor) level in between
non radiatively and then transfer radiatively to another activator energy (acceptor) level
and finally going to original ground state non radiatively i.e. radiative transfer occurs
between two activator states.
• b) From 𝐸𝑐 the electron may come to an activator energy(recombination) level in
between radiatively and then going to original ground state non radiatively i.e. radiative
transfer occurs between bottom of conduction band and an activator state.
• c) From 𝐸𝑐 the electron may come to an activator energy(recombination) level in
between non radiatively and then going to original ground state radiatively i.e. radiative
transfer occurs between an activator state and top of valence band.
• Amount of delay between absorption of energy from source and release of light for
these above three process may vary for different materials based on band structure.
• d) From 𝐸𝑐 the electron may come to an activator energy(trap) level in between non
radiatively(capture) and then again can gain energy from lattice vibration to move back
to 𝐸𝑐 (decapture) and then from 𝐸𝑐 it can go to ground state following any of the above
three radiative mechanisms. In fact this capture-decapture between 𝐸𝑐 and trap level
may happen multiple times, in which case, considerable amount of delay occurs
between absorption of energy from source and release of light.

iv) LASER:
• Laser is an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. It is in
fact can be thought of as a special application of luminescence.
• All of the light emission we have mentioned so far, by luminescence or incandescence,
is spontaneous. It happened just due to randomly occurring natural effects and hence
these transition events occur independently of one another and at random times,
producing radiation that is incoherent i.e. the emitted light waves are out of phase with
one another.
• Unlike most radiation processes, such as, which produce incoherent light, the light
produced by laser emission is coherent.
• Stimulated emission refers to electron transitions that are initiated by the presence of
other photons.
• Einstein showed that an incident photon with E ≥ 𝐸𝑔 is equally likely to cause
stimulated emission of light as to get absorbed itself and the emitted light in such case
has the same frequency and phase as the incident light i.e. coherent.
• Normally, as there are very few excited electrons compared to ground-state electrons,
so we get predominantly absorption.
• If we could arrange for more excited than non-excited electrons, then we would get
mostly stimulated emission.
• To achieve this condition practically, we need a photoluminent material whose
significant no of radiative transfer occurs between an activator state and top of valence
band and the radiation takes a sufficiently long time(msec or more for
phosphorescence) to occur.
• When such material will be illuminated by sufficiently intense light beam so that a
number of excited electrons will occupy the activator states compared to ground states
before any transition from those activator states to ground state starts. Now as soon as
radiative transition starts through those activator states the emitted photons encourages
all other electrons in those states to simultaneously make those radiative transition
causing coherent light to come out i.e. by choosing the material with proper relaxation
time and proper intensity external illumination all the non coherent radiation which
would have occur naturally are forcefully converted into coherent light which is known
as LASER.
• Lasers are useful in many applications such as welding, metal cutting, heat treatment,
surgery, mapping, reading compact disks, etc. e.g. Ruby (single crystal of sapphire(
Al2O3) doped with 0.05% of Cr2O3) , yttrium aluminium garnet (Y3Al5O12 – YAG)
doped with neodymium(Nd), CO2 gas, He-Ne gas, some semi-conductors like GaAs
and InGaAsP etc.

v) Total internal reflection and Optical Fibre:

• When light travels from a optically denser medium to a optically rarer medium then for
some angle of incidence larger then a critical value, light is not transmitted instead gets
 reflected totally from the interface and this
phenomena is known as total internal
reflection.
• These systems consists of transmitter (a
semiconductor laser) to convert electrical
signals to light signals, optical fiber to
transmit the light signals, and a photodiode
to convert light signals back to electrical
signals.
• It primarily consists of core, cladding and
coating. The core transmits the signals,
while the cladding constrains the light
beam to the core; outer coating protects the
core and cladding from the external
environment.
• Typically both the core and cladding are made of special types of glass with carefully
controlled indices of refraction.
• The indices of refraction are selected such that
𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑑 < 𝑛𝑐𝑜𝑟
• Once the light enters the core from the source, it is reflected internally and propagates
along the length of the fiber.
• Internal reflection is accomplished by varying the index of refraction of the core and
cladding glass materials. Usually two designs are employed in this regard:
• i)In step-index multimode optical fiber, there is a sharp change in refractive index
between the core and cladding. In this design output pulse will be broader than the input
one. It is because light rays traveling in different trajectories have a variety of path
lengths.
ii)In graded-index multimode optical fiber, there is no sharp change in refractive index
between the core and cladding, instead it is progressively changed. This results in a
helical path for the light rays, as opposed to zig-zag path in a step-index fiber and hence
it is possible to avoid pulse broadening as now the phase difference at the end of the
fibre will be same as lengthy path has lesser refractive index region in its path so faster
movement of light but shorter path has higher refractive index region in its path so
slower movement of light causing all paths to take almost same time to travel through
the fibre.
• These are basically called multi mode fibres which allow multiple paths having
significant path differences for the light to travel through. It is possible due to relatively
large core diameter. Also, it is easy to couple or insert the input light signal into the
fibre.
• There is also a third type of fibre called step index single mode fibre which allows light
to travel only in almost parallel(as flat as possible) path to the centre line i.e. almost
single path or paths having negligible path or phase differences and hence no pulse
broadening despite it being a step index fibre. This is achieved by making the core of
very smaller diameter so that light can only be entered almost paralelly with the help of
a properly guided source i.e. it will be difficult to couple the input light signal into the
fibre.