Chapter 1

1.4 Antireflection coating

a Consider three dielectric media with flat and parallel boundaries with refractive indices n
1
, n
2

and n
3
. Show that for normal incidence the reflection coefficient between layers 1 and 2 is the same
as that between layers 2 and 3 if n
2
= [n
1
n
3
]. What is the significance of this?
b Consider a Si photodiode that is designed for operation at 900 nm. Given a choice of two
possible antireflection coatings, SiO
2
with a refractive index of 1.5 and TiO
2
with a refractive index
of 2.3 which would you use and what would be the thickness of the antireflection coating? The
refractive index of Si is 3.5. Explain your decision.
1.8 Thin film coating and multiple reflections:
n
1
n
2
n
3
B
1
A
1 A
2
A
3
A
0
C
1
B2
B
3
B
4
B
5
C
2
C
3
B
6
Thin film coating of refractive index n
2
on
a semiconductor device

Figure 1Q8
Consider a thin film coating on an object as in Figure 1Q8. Suppose that the incident wave has an
amplitude of A
0
, then there are various transmitted and reflected waves as shown in Figure 1Q8. We
then have the following amplitudes based on the definitions of the reflection and transmission
coefficients,
A
1
= A
0
r
12
B
1
= A
0
t
12
B
2
= A
0
t
12
r
23
C
1
= A
0
t
12
t
23

A
2
= A
0
t
12
r
23
t
21
B
3
= A
0
t
12
r
23
r
21
B
4
= A
0
t
12
r
23
r
21
r
23
C
2
= A
0
t
12
r
23
r
21
t
23
A
3
= A
0
t
12
r
23
r
21
r
23
t
21
B
5
= A
0
t
12
r
23
r
21
r
23
r
21
B
6
= A
0
t
12
r
23
r
21
r
23
r
21
r
23
C
3
= A
0
t
12
r
23
r
21
r
23
r
21
t
23

and so on.
Assume that n
1
< n
2
< n
3
and that the thickness of the coating is d. For simplicity, we will
assume normal incidence. The phase change in traversing the coating thickness d is = (2/)n
2
d
where is the free space wavelength. The wave has to be multiplied by exp(j) to account for this
phase difference.
The reflection and transmission coefficients are given by,
r
1
= r
12
=
n
1
n
2
n
1
+ n
2
= r
21
, r
2
=r
23
=
n
2
n
3
n
2
+ n
3

and t
1
=t
12
=
2n
1
n
1
+ n
2
, t
2
=t
21
=
2n
2
n
1
+ n
2
, t
23
=
2n
3
n
2
+ n
3
,
a Show that


1 t
1
t
2
= r
1
2

b Show that the reflection coefficient is


r =
A
reflected
A
0
= r
1

t
1
t
2
r
1
r
1
r
2
e
j2
( )
k
k =1

which can be summed to


r =
r
1
+ r
2
e
j 2
1+ r
1
r
2
e
j 2

c Show that the transmission coefficient is


t =
C
transmitted
A
0
=
t
1
t
23
e
j
r
1
r
2
r
1
r
2
e
j 2
( )
k
k=1

=
t
1
t
23
e
j
r
1
r
2
|
\

|

|
r
1
r
2
e
j 2
1+ r
1
r
2
e
j 2

which can be summed to

t =
t
1
t
23
e
j
1+ r
1
r
2
e
j 2

1.9 Antireflection coating: Consider a thin film coating on an object as shown in Figure 1Q9.
Using the transmission coefficient in Question 1.8 show that the a normally incident light beam has
maximum transmission into medium 3 when
d =
m
4n
2

where m is an odd-integer and is the free space wavelength. Show, in addition, that we need r
1
r
2
= 1.
which requires choosing n
2
= (n
1
n
3
)
1/2
. Derive the same result using the reflection coefficient in
Question 1.8.
n
1
n
2
n
3
B
1
A
1 A
2
A
3
A
0
C
1
B
2
B
3
B
4
B
5
C
2
C
3
B
6
Thin film coating of refractive index n
2
on
a semiconductor device

Figure 1Q9
1.16 Diffraction by a lens Any lens in practice is an aperture and the image of a point is
therefore a diffraction pattern. Suppose a lens with a diameter of 2 cm has a focal length of 40 cm.
Suppose that it is illuminated with a plane wave, a collimated beam of light, of wavelength 590 nm.
What is the diameter of the Airy disk at the focal point? What is your conclusion?

Chapter 2
2.1 Dielectric slab waveguide
a Consider the rays 1 and 2 in Figure 2.3. Derive the waveguide condition.
b Consider the two rays 1 and 2 in Figure 2.4. Show that the phase difference when they meet at
C at a distance y above the guide center is

m
= k
1
2(a y)cos
m

m

c Using the waveguide condition show that

m
=
m
(y) = m
y
a
(m +
m
)
n
2
n
2
z 2a
y
A
1
2
1
B

A
B
C
2
2/2
k
1
E
x
n
1
Figure 2.3 Two arbitrary waves 1
and 2 that are initially in phase must
remain in phase after reflections.
Otherwise the two will interfere
destructively and cancel each other.
n
2
z
a
y
A
1
2

A
C
k
E
x
y
ay
Guide
center
2
Figure 2.4 Interference of waves such as 1
and 2 leads to a standing wave pattern
along the y-direction which propagates
along z.

2.5 Dielectric slab waveguide Consider a dielectric slab waveguide which has a thin GaAs
layer of thickness 0.2 m between two AlGaAs layers. The refractive index of GaAs is 3.66 and that
of the AlGaAs layers is 3.40. What is the cut-off wavelength beyond which only a single mode can
propagate in the waveguide assuming that the refractive index does not vary greatly with the
wavelength? If a radiation of wavelength 870 nm (corresponding to bandgap radiation) is propagating
in the GaAs layer, what is the penetration of the evanescent wave into the AlGaAs layers? What is
the mode field distance of this radiation?

2.8 A multimode fiber Consider a multimode fiber with a core diameter of 100 m, core
refractive index of 1.475 and a cladding refractive index of 1.455 both at 850 nm. Consider operating
this fiber at = 850 nm.
a Calculate the V-number for the fiber and estimate the number of modes.
b Calculate the wavelength beyond which the fiber becomes single mode.
c Calculate the numerical aperture.
d Calculate the maximum acceptance angle.
e Calculate the modal dispersion and hence the bit rate distance product given that rms
dispersion 0.29 where is the full spread.
2.9 A single mode fiber Consider a fiber with a SiO
2
-13.5%GeO
2
core of diameter of 8 m and
refractive index of 1.468 and a cladding refractive index of 1.464 both refractive indices at 1300 nm
where the fiber is to be operated using a laser source with a half maximum width of 2 nm.
a Calculate the V-number for the fiber. Is this a single mode fiber?
b Calculate the wavelength below which the fiber becomes multimode.
c Calculate the numerical aperture.
d Calculate the maximum acceptance angle.
e Obtain the material dispersion and waveguide dispersion and hence estimate the bit rate
distance product (BL) of the fiber.
2.18 Microbending loss It is found that for a single mode fiber with a cut-off wavelength
c
=
1180 nm, operating at 1300 nm, the microbending loss reaches 1 dB m
-1
when the radius of curvature
of the bend is roughly 6 mm for = 0.00825, 12 mm for = 0.00550 and 35 mm for = 0.00275.
Explain these findings.


Chapter 3
3.2 GaAs GaAs has an effective density of states at the conduction CB N
c
of 4.710
17
cm
-3
and
an effective density of states at the VB edge N
v
of 710
18
cm
-3
. Given its bandgap E
g
of 1.42 eV
calculate the intrinsic concentration and the intrinsic resistivity at room temperature (take as 300 K).
Where is the Fermi level? Assuming that N
c
and N
v
scale as T
3/2
, what would be the intrinsic
concentration at 100 C? If this GaAs crystal is doped with 10
18
donors cm
-3
(such as Te), where is
the new Fermi level and what is the resistivity of the sample? The drift mobilities in GaAs are shown
in Table 3Q2
Table 3Q2
Dopant impurities scatter carriers and reduce the drift mobility (
e
for electrons and
h
for holes).
Dopant concentration (cm
-3
) 0 10
15
10
16
10
17
10
18

e
(cm
2
V
-1
s
-1
) 8500 8000 7000 4000 2400

h
(cm
2
V
-1
s
-1
) 400 380 310 220 160

3.3 Direct bandgap pn junction Consider a GaAs pn junction which has the following
properties. N
a
= 10
16
cm
-3
(p-side), N
d
= 10
16
cm
-3
(n-side), B = 7.2110
-16
m
3
s
-1
, cross sectional area
A = 0.1 mm
2
. What is the diode current due to diffusion in the neutral regions at 300 K when the
forward voltage across the diode is 1 V? See Question 3.2 and Table 3Q2 for GaAs properties.

3.4 The Si pn junction
Consider a long pn junction diode with an acceptor doping, N
a
, of 10
18
cm
-3
on the p-side and donor
concentration of N
d
on the n-side. The diode is forward biased and has a voltage of 0.6 V across it.
The diode cross-sectional area is 1 mm
2
. The minority carrier recombination time, , depends on
the dopant concentration, N
dopant
(cm
-3
), through the following approximate relation
=
5 10
7
1+ 2 10
17
N
dopant ( )

a Suppose that N
d
= 10
15
cm
-3
. Then the depletion layer extends essentially into the n-side and
we have to consider minority carrier recombination time,
h
, in this region. Calculate the diffusion
and recombination contributions to the total diode current given that when N
a
= 10
18
cm
-3
,
e
250
cm
2
V
-1
s
-1
, and when N
d
= 10
15
cm
-3
,
h
450 cm
2
V
-1
s
-1
. What is your conclusion?
b Suppose that N
d
= N
a
. Then W extends equally to both sides and, further,
e
=
h
. Calculate
the diffusion and recombination contributions to the diode current given that when N
a
= 10
18
cm
-3
,
e
250 cm
2
V
-1
s
-1
, and when N
d
= 10
18
cm
-3
,
h
130 cm
2
V
-1
s
-1
. What is your conclusion?
3.5 AlGaAs LED emitter An AlGaAs LED emitter for use in a local optical fiber network has
the output spectrum shown in Figure 3Q5. It is designed for peak emission at 820 nm at 25C.
a What is the linewidth between half power points at temperatures 40C, 25C and 85C?
What is the empirical relationship between and T given three temperatures and how does this
compare with (h) 2.5k
B
T 3k
B
T?
b Why does the peak emission wavelength increase with temperature?
c Why does the peak intensity decrease with temperature?
d What is the bandgap of AlGaAs in this LED?
e The bandgap, E
g
, of the ternary alloys Al
x
Ga
1-x
As follows the empirical expression,
E
g
(eV) = 1.424 + 1.266x + 0.266x
2
.
What is the composition of the AlGaAs in this LED?
f When the forward current is 40 mA, the voltage across the LED is 1.5V and the optical power
that is coupled into a multimode fiber through a lens is 25 W. What is the efficiency?
800 900
?0
25
85
0
1
740
Relative spectral output power
840 880
Wavelength (nm)
The output spectrum from GaAlAs LED. Values
normalized to peak emission at 25.

Figure 3Q5

3.7 External conversion efficiency The external power or conversion efficiency
ext
is defined
as

ext
=
Optical power output
Electrical power input
=
P
o
IV

One of the major factors reducing the external power efficiency is the loss of photons in
extracting the emitted photons which suffer reabsorption in the pn junction materials, absorption
outside the semiconductors and various reflections at interfaces.
The total light output power from a particular AlGaAs red LED is 2.5 mW when the current
is 50 mA and the voltage is 1.6 V. Calculate its external conversion efficiency.
3.8 Linewidth of LEDs Experiments carried out on various direct bandgap semiconductor
LEDs give the output spectral linewidth (between half intensity points) listed in Table 3Q8-1. We
know that a spread in the wavelength is related to a spread in the photon energy,

hc
E
ph
2
E
ph
(1)
Suppose that we write E
ph
= hc/ and E
ph
= (h) mk
B
T where m is a numerical constant.
Show that,



2
mk
B
T
hc
(2)
and by appropriately plotting the data in Table 3Q8-1 find m.
Table 3Q8-1 shows the linewidth
1/2
for various visible LEDs. Radiative recombination is
obtained by appropriately doping the material. Using m 3, T = 300 K, in Eq. (2) calculate the
expected spectral width for each and compare with the experimental value. What is your conclusion?
Do you think E
N
in Figure 3.24 (b) is a discrete level?
Table 3Q8-1
Linewidth
1/2
between half points in the output spectrum (Intensity vs wavelength) of GaAs and
AlGaAs LEDs.
Peak wavelength of
emission () nm
650 810 820 890 950 1150 1270 1500

1/2
nm 22 36 40 50 55 90 110 150
Material (Direct E
g
) AlGaAs AlGaAs AlGaAs GaAs GaAs InGaAsP InGaAsP InGaAsP
Table 3Q8-2
Linewidth
1/2
between half points in the output spectrum (Intensity vs wavelength) of four various
visible LEDs using SiC and GaAsP materials.
Peak wavelength of emission () nm 468 565 583 600 635

1/2
nm 66 28 36 40 45
Color Blue Green Yellow Orange Red
Material SiC (Al) GaP (N) GaAsP (N) GaAsP (N) GaAsP

3.10 LED-Fiber coupling Efficiency
a It is found that approximately 200 W is coupled into a multimode step index fiber from a
surface emitting LED when the current is 75 mA and the voltage across the LED is about 1.5 V.
What is the overall efficiency of operation?
b Experiments are carried out on coupling light from a 1310 nm ELED (edge emitting LED) in
multimode and single mode fibers.
(i) At room temperature, when the ELED current is 120 mA, the voltage is 1.3 V and
light power coupled into a 50 m multimode fiber with NA (numerical aperture) = 0.2 is 48 W.
What is the overall efficiency?
(ii) At room temperature, when the ELED current is 120 mA, the voltage is 1.3 V and
light power coupled into a 9 m single mode fiber is 7 W. What is the overall efficiency?


Chapter 4
4.8 Fabry-Perot optical resonator
a. Consider an idealized He-Ne laser optical cavity. Taking L = 0.5 m, R = 0.99, calculate the
separation of the modes and the spectral width following Example 1.7.1.
b. Consider a semiconductor Fabry-Perot optical cavity of length 200 micron with end-mirrors
that have a reflectance of 0.8. If the semiconductor refractive index is 3.7, calculate the cavity mode
nearest to the free space wavelength of 1300 nm. Calculate the separation of the modes and the
spectral width following Example 1.7.1.
4.10 Threshold current and power output from a laser diode
a Consider the rate equations and their results in Section 4.10 It takes t = nL/c second for
photons to cross the laser cavity length L, where n is the refractive index. If N
ph
is the coherent
radiation photon concentration, then only half of the photons,
1
/
2
N
ph
, in the cavity would be moving
towards the output face of the crystal at any instant. Given that the active layer has a length L, width
W and thickness d, show that the coherent optical output power and intensity are


P
o
=
hc
2
N
ph
dW
2n



(

(
1 R ( ) and

I =
hc
2
N
ph
2n



(

(
1 R ( )
where R is the reflectance of the semiconductor crystal face.
b If is the attenuation coefficient for the coherent radiation within the semiconductor active
layer due to various loss processes such as scattering and R is the reflectance of the crystal ends then
the total attenuation coefficient
t
is,

t
= +
1
2L
ln
1
R
2
|
\
|


Consider a double heterostructure InGaAsP semiconductor laser operating at 1310 nm. The
cavity length L 60 m, width W 10 m, and d 0.25 m. The refractive index n 3.5. The
loss coefficient 10 cm
-1
. Find
t
,
ph
.
c For the above device, threshold current density J
th
500 A cm
-2
and
sp
10 ps. What is the
threshold electron concentration? Calculate the lasing optical power and intensity when the current
is 5 mA.
4.12 Laser diode efficiency
a There are several laser diode efficiency definitions as follows:
The external quantum efficiency
EQE
, of a laser diode is defined as

EQE
=
Number of output photons from the diode per unit second ( )
Number of injected electrons into diode per unit second ( )

The external differential quantum efficiency,
EDQE
, of a laser diode is defined as

EDQE
=
Increase in number of output photons from diode per unit second ( )
Increase in number of injected electrons into diode per unit second ( )

The external power efficiency,
EPE
, of the laser diode is defined by

EPE
=
Optical output power
Electical input power

If P
o
is the emitted optical power, show that

EQE
=
eP
o
E
g
I


EDQE
=
e
E
g
|
\

|

|
dP
o
dI


EPE
=
EQE
E
g
eV
|
\
|


b A commercial laser diode with an emission wavelength of 670 nm (red) has the following
characteristics. The threshold current at 25C is 76 mA. At I = 80 mA, the output optical power
is 2 mW and the voltage across the diode is 2.3 V. If the diode current is increased to 82 mA, the
optical output power increases to 3 mW. Calculate the external QE, external differential QE and the
external power efficiency of the laser diode.
c Consider an InGaAsP laser diode operating at = 1310 nm for optical communications. At
I = 40 mA, the output optical power is 3 mW and the voltage across the diode is 1.4 V. If the diode
current is increased to 45 mA, the optical output power increases to 4 mW. Calculate external
quantum efficiency (QE), external differential QE, external power efficiency of the laser diode.
4.15 The SQW laser Consider a SQW (single quantum well) laser which has an ultrathin active
InGaAs of bandgap 0.70 eV and thickness 10 nm between two layers of InAlAs which has a bandgap
of 1.45 eV. Effective mass of conduction electrons in InGaAs is about 0.04m
e
and that of the holes
in the valence band is 0.44m
e
where m
e
is the mass of the electron in vacuum. Calculate the first
and second electron energy levels above E
c
and the first hole energy level below E
v
in the QW. What
is the lasing emission wavelength for this SQW laser? What is this wavelength if the transition were
to occur in bulk InGaAs with the same bandgap?

4.16 A GaAs quantum well Effective mass of conduction electrons in GaAs is 0.07m
e
where m
e

is the electron mass in vacuum. Calculate the first three electron energy levels for a quantum well
of thickness 8 nm. What is the hole energy below E
v
if the effective mass of the hole is 0.47m
e
?What is the change in the emission wavelength with respect to bulk GaAs which has an energy bandgap of 1.42 eV.

Chapter 5
5.1 Bandgap and photodetection
a Determine the maximum value of the energy gap which a semiconductor, used as a
photoconductor, can have if it is to be sensitive to yellow light (600 nm).
b A photodetector whose area is 510
-2
cm
2
is irradiated with yellow light whose intensity is 2
mW cm
2
. Assuming that each photon generates one electron-hole pair, calculate the number of
pairs generated per second.
c From the known energy gap of the semiconductor GaAs (E
g
= 1.42 eV), calculate the primary
wavelength of photons emitted from this crystal as a result of electron-hole recombination. Is this
wavelength in the visible?
d Will a silicon photodetector be sensitive to the radiation from a GaAs laser? Why?
5.2 Absorption coefficient
a If d is the thickness of a photodetector material, I
o
is the intensity of the incoming radiation,
show that the number of photons absorbed per unit volume of sample is


n
ph
=
I
o
1 exp(d) [ ]
dh

b What is the thickness of a Ge and In
0.53
Ga
0.47
As crystal layer that is needed for absorbing 90%
of the incident radiation at 1.5 m?
c Suppose that each absorbed photon liberates one electron (or electron hole pair) in an unity
quantum efficient photodetector that the photogenerated electrons are immediately collected. Thus,
the rate of charge collection is limited by rate of photogeneration. What is the external photocurrent
density for the photodetectors in (b) if the incident radiation is 100 W mm
-2
?
5.3 Ge Photodiode Consider a commercial Ge pn junction photodiode which has the
responsivity shown in Figure 5Q3. Its photosensitive area is 0.008 mm
2
. It is used under a reverse
bias of 10V when the dark current is 0.3 A and the junction capacitance is 4 pF. The rise time of
the photodiode is 0.5ns.
a Calculate its quantum efficiency at 850, 1300 and 1550nm.
b What is the light intensity at 1.55 m that gives a photocurrent equal to the dark current?
c What would be the effect of lowering the temperature on the responsivity curve?
d Given that the dark current is in the range of microamperes, what would be the advantage in
reducing the temperature?
e Suppose that the photodiode is used with a 100 resistance to sample the photocurrent. What
limits the speed of response?
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.5 1 1.5 2
Wavelength(m)
The responsivity of a commercial
Ge pn junction photodiode
Responsivity(A/W)

Figure 5Q3
5.4 Si pin Photodiodes Consider two commercial Si pin photodiodes, type A and type B, both
classified as fast pin photodiodes. They have the responsivity shown Figure 5Q4. Differences in the
responsivity are due to the pin device structure. The photosensitive area is 0.125 cm
2
(4 mm in
diameter).
a Calculate the photocurrent from each when they are illuminated with blue light of wavelength
450nm and light intensity 1 W cm
-2
. What is the QE of each device?
b Calculate the photocurrent from each when they are illuminated with red light of wavelength
700 nm and light intensity 1 W cm
-2
. What is the QE of each device?
c Calculate the photocurrent from each when they are illuminated with infrared light of
wavelength 1000 nm and light intensity 1 W cm
-2
. What is the QE of each device?
d What is your conclusion?
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Wavelength(nm)
A B
The responsivity of two commercial Si
pin photodiodes
Responsivity(A/W)

5.6 Maximum QE Show that maximum QE occurs when


dR
d
=
R

that is, when the tangent at passes through the origin (R = 0, = 0). Hence determine the
wavelengths where the QE is maximum for the InGaAs pin, two Si pin and Ge photodiodes in Figure
5Q6 (Figure 5.22, Figure 5.21 and Figure 5.20 respectively in the textbook).

5.12 The APD and excess avalanche noise APDs exhibit excess avalanche noise which
contributes to the shot noise of the diode current. The total noise current in the APD is given by
i
n-APD
= [ 2e(I
do
+ I
pho
)M
2
FB]
1/2
(1)
where F is the excess noise factor which depends in a complicated way not only on M but also on the
ionization probabilities of the carriers in the device. It is normally taken simply to be M
x
where x in
an index that depends on the semiconductor material and device structure.
a Table 5Q12 provides measurements of F vs. M on a Ge APD using photogeneration at 1.55
m. Find x in F = M
x
. How good is the fit?
b The above Ge APD has an unmultiplied dark current of 0.5 A and an unmultiplied
responsivity of 0.8 A W
-1
at its peak response at 1.55 m and is biased to operate at M = 6 in a
receiver circuit with a bandwidth of 500MHz. What is the minimum photocurrent that will give a
SNR = 1? If the photosensitive area is 0.3 mm in diameter what is the corresponding minimum
optical power and light intensity?
c What should be the photocurrent and incident optical power for SNR = 10?
Table 5Q12 Data for excess avalanche noise as F vs M for a Ge APD
(from D. Scansen and S.O. Kasap, Cnd. J. Physics. Vol. 70, pp. 1070-1075, 1992)
M 1 3 5 7 9
F 1.1 2.8 4.4 5.5 7.5


Chapter 6
6.3 Solar cell driving a load
a A Si solar cell of area 4 cm
2
is connected to drive a load R as in Figure 6.8 (a). It has the I-V
characteristics in Figure 6.8 (b) under an illumination of 600 W m
-2
. Suppose that the load is 20
and it is used under a light intensity of 1 kW m
-2
. What are the current and voltage in the circuit?
What is the power delivered to the load? What is the efficiency of the solar cell in this circuit?
b What should the load be to obtain maximum power transfer from the solar cell to the load at 1
kW m
-2
illumination. What is this load at 600 W m
-2
?
c Consider using a number of such a solar cells to drive a calculator that needs a minimum of
3V and draws 3.0 mA at 3 - 4V. It is to be used indoors at a light intensity of about 400 W m
-2
. How
many solar cells would you need and how would you connect them? At what light intensity would
the calculator stop working?
6.4 Open circuit voltage A solar cell under an illumination of 100 W m
-2
has a short circuit
current I
sc
of 50 mA and an open circuit output voltage V
oc
, of 0.55V. What are the short circuit
current and open circuit voltages when the light intensity is halved?
6.5 Shunt resistance Consider the equivalent circuit of a solar cell as shown in Figure 6.10.
a Show that
I = I
ph
+ I
d
+
V
R
p
= I
ph
+ I
o
exp(
eV
nk
B
T
) I
o
+
V
R
p

b Plot I vs. V for a polycrystalline Si solar cell that has n = 2 and I
o
= 310
-4
mA, for an
illumination such that I
ph
= 5 mA. Use R
p
= , 1000 and then R
p
100 . What is your conclusion?
A
I
ph
R
p
R
L
V
I I
ph
I
d
Solar cell
Load
B
A

6.6 Series connected solar cells Consider two identical solar cells with the properties I
o
=
2510
-6
mA, n = 1.5, R
s
= 20 , subjected to the same illumination so that I
ph
= 10 mA. Plot the
individual I-V characteristics and the I-V characteristics of the two cells in series. Find the maximum
power that can be delivered by one cell and two cells in series. Find the corresponding voltage and
current at the maximum power point.
6.7 Series connected solar cells Consider two odd solar cells. Cell 1 has I
o1
= 2510
-6
mA, n
1

= 1.5, R
s1
= 10 and cell 2 has I
o2
= 110
-7
mA, n
2
= 1, R
s2
= 50 . The illumination is such that I
ph1

= 10 mA and I
ph2
= 15 ma. Plot the individual I-V characteristics and the I-V characteristics of the
two cells in series. Find the maximum power that can be delivered by each cell and two cells in series.
Find the corresponding voltages and currents at the maximum power point. What is your conclusions?

6.11 Maximum Power and Fill Factor Given the solar cell current equation, and that the power
extracted from the solar cell is -IV, show that maximum power occurs when V = V
m
and I = I
m
when,

V
m
nV
T
exp(
V
m
nV
T
)
I
ph
I
o
and I
m
I
ph
1
nV
T
V
m
|
\

|

|
(3)
where V
T
= k
B
T/e is the thermal voltage. Given n, I
sc
I
ph
and V
oc
, suggest ways to estimate I
m
and
V
m
and hence the FF.
6.12 Energy band diagram
a Explain the photovoltaic action by using an energy band diagram with and without
illumination.
b Sketch the energy band diagram of an n-type semiconductor that has a decreasing E
g
from left
to right. What happens to an electron and a hole that are photogenerated?

Chapter 7
7.3 Wire-grid polarizer Figure 7Q3 shows a wire grid-polarizer which consists of closely
spaced parallel thin conducting wires. The light beam passing through the wire-grid is observed to be
linearly polarized at right angles to the wires. Can you explain the operation of this polarizer?
Wire-grid polarizer
E
x
E
y
y
x
z
E
y
The wire grid-acts as a polarizer

7.7 Birefringence Consider a negative uniaxial crystal such as calcite (n
e
< n
o
) plate that has
the optic axis (taken along z) parallel to the plate faces. Suppose that a linearly polarized wave is
incident at normal incidence on a plate face. If the optical field is at an angle 45 to the optic axis,
sketch the wavefronts and the rays through the calcite plate.

7.10 Quartz Wollaston prism Draw a quartz Wollaston prism and clearly show and identify the
directions of orthogonally polarized waves traveling through the prisms. How would you test the
polarization states of the emerging rays? Consider two identical Wollaston prisms, one from calcite
and the other from quartz. Which will have a greater beam splitting ability? (Explain).

7.11 Glan-Foucault prism Figure 7Q11-1 shows the cross section of a Glan-Foucault prism
which is made of two right angle calcite prisms with a prism angle of 38.5. Both have their optic
axes parallel to each other and to the block faces as in the figure. Explain the operation of the
prisms and show that the o-wave does indeed experience total internal reflection.
Optic axis
38.5
Absorber
Air-gap
Calcite
e-ray
o-ray
The Glan-Foucault prism provides linearly polarized light




7.13 Optical activity
a Consider an optically active medium. The experimenter A (Alan) sends a vertically polarized
light into the this medium as in Figure 7Q13-1. Light emerging from the back of the crystal and is
received by an experimenter B (Barbara). B observes that the optical field E has been rotated to E
counterclockwise. She reflects the wave back into the medium so that A can receive it. Describe the
observations of A and B. What is your conclusion?
b Figure 7Q13-2 shows a simplified version of the Fresnel prism that converts an incoming
unpolarized light into two divergent beams that have opposite circular polarizations. Explain the
principle of operation.
E
Optic axis

E
z
L
Quartz
z
Dextro
z
Levo
E E
An optically active material such as quartz rotates the plane of polarization of
the incident wave: The optical field E rotated to E. If we reflect the wave back
into the material, E rotates back to E.

Figure 7Q13-1
R-handed quartz
L-polarized
R-polarized
L-handed quartz
The Fresnel prism for separating unpolarized light into two divergent
beams with opposite circular polarizations (R = right, L = left; divergence is
exaggerated)

Figure 7Q13-2