MATERIALS

OPTICAL PROPERTIES

PART 1
 Light- Special kind of electromagnetic energy

Propagates in space
c= 3.108 m/s in vacuum (0,03% less in air and 30% less in glass)

Refractive index- n v(vacuum)/v(material)

 Optical waves propagate through insulators

With characterisitics determined by:

-The dielectric constant and refractive index of the
material
-any absorptive or scattering process

As a consequence, insulators have a broad window of transparency

over somepart of the optical spectrum.
In this transparency window the dielectric constant generally has a weak dispersion.
Therefore the material transmits light with very little loss.

Wavelengths outside de transparency regions can induce strong polarization processes,

that can cause a dispersion in the dielectric constant or refractive index,
with an associated increase in propagation loss or absorption
 Ordinary glasses are highly transparent in the visible
for three main reasons:

1- Their polatization processes are either too slow or too fast to keep up with
the oscillations in electromagnetic fields associated with the visible optical wave;
Consequently the refractive index is only weakly dependent on wavelength in that region
of the electromagnetic spectrum

2- Their constituents do not have electronic states that allow free-electron or

bound-electron transitions in the visible

3- Their microstructure is homogenous and isotropic, and their refractive index is

dependent on neither spatial position nor direction
 Optical properties of glasses

-Good optical properties

-difficult preparation

-Bad optical properties

-easy preparation

-Good optical properties

-easy preparation

Ref- P.Lucas- Glass Properties- 2nd Virtual Glass Course - International Materials
Institute for New Functionalilty in Glasses (http://www.lehigh.edu/imi/)
INCIDENT LIGHT ON A MATERIAL SURFACE

REFLECTION

ABSORPTION

SCATTERING

TRANSMISSION

Glasses are
isotropic
 REFLECTION

(FRESNEL EQUATION)

 n 1 
2

In the transparentregion =0

R  valid for  < 20o
= extintion coeffcient  n 1

n= n+ i. If n=1.5 R=4% at each surface

 ABSORPTION

= absorption coefficient

Relationship between the absorption coefficient and the extinction coefficient

2

c
 SCATTERING

Rayleigh scattering- results from microscopic fluctuations of the density-

Light is sent to multiple directions. There is no energy transfer to the scatterer

Why is the sky blue??

Take a look at
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/atmos/blusky.html
Scattering from
particles.
Mie Scattering

Independent of the
wavelength

The change of sky colour at sunset (red nearest the sun, blue furthest away)
is caused by Rayleigh scattering by atmospheric gas molecules which are much
smaller than the wavelengths of visible light.
The grey/white colour of the clouds is caused by Mie scattering by water droplets
which are of a comparable size to the wavelengths of visible light.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mie_theory
TRANSMISSSION

If the optical quality is good,

scattering may be descarded
and R+T+A=1
 Reflection and refraction

Pencil in the
water Pencil in the water
vertical inclined

Refraction effect

n1sen1  n2 sen 2
Snell-Descartes Law
 Total Internal Reflection

n2
According to Snell-Descartes Law, sen1  sen 2
n1

If n2>n1 then 1>2

For a given angle c the refracted beam will be paralel to the surface (1=90o)
We call this angle “critical angle”

The critical angle value will be given by senc=n1/n2

For any angle 2 larger that the critical angle, light will be completely
reflected to the medium. This process is what we call
Total internal reflection We will come back to this to
explain light guiding in optical fibers
 Refractive index- Basics

The deviation a light beam will suffer

will depend on its relative velocity in the two media

The relative refractive index (n21)- ratio of the two velocities

n21=v1/v2= n2/n1

Absolute value (n)- When the medium 1 is vacuum (v1=c)

C= 300000 km/s and n will be always larger than 1

In ordinary glass v=200000 km/s

And then n= 300000/200000=1.5

 Refractive index for some materials

Material Refractive index

air 1
water 1.33
glass 1.5
glicerine 1.9
Ethyl alcohol 1.36
diamond 2.42
Acrylic 1.49
Fused silica 1.46
ZBLAN glass 1.5
Lead silicate glass 2.5
Ref. “Optical Materials” by Joseph H. Simmons and Kelly S. Potter, Academic Press, 2000

Refractive index measurements

Abbe refractometer

Measures the angle of incidence required to just begin total internal reflection
(critical angle) for light propagating from a standard glass hemisphere of high
Index to a sample of lower index- Accuracy- 2x10-3
 Refractive index measurements
Prism coupling

Critical angle

Metricom Model 2010- Prism Coupler

Lasers – 1540nm, 633nm, 543.5nm
Accuracy is comparable with that of
minimum deviation method
 Soda-lime silica glass- Absorption spectrum

Multiphonon
processes
Harmonics of
fundamental
vibrational
modes Energy gap
Electronic
transitions
Minimum depends on the
glass composition valence band
conduction band
 A=5.10-5 (1cm)

Attenuation- "decibels"

(dB)= 10 log(P1/P2) P1-in P2-out

A=10-7(1cm)
 3dB  P1/P2= 2 (signal is half of the initial) 96% of the
signal after
1ppm OH-- 4dB/k m at 1380nm 1km
 Quizz number 3- question 1

Poços de Caldas

1W, 1.5 m

?W
270 kms of fiber
São Paulo
Attenuation of a silica fiber at 1.5 m
0.2 dB/km
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZBLAN
ref- P.Lucas- Glass Properties- 2nd Virtual Glass Course - International Materials
Institute for New Functionalilty in Glasses (http://www.lehigh.edu/imi/)
 Spectrometers

ref- P.Lucas- Glass Properties- 2nd Virtual Glass Course - International Materials
Institute for New Functionalilty in Glasses (http://www.lehigh.edu/imi/)
ref- P.Lucas- Glass Properties- 2nd Virtual Glass Course - International Materials
Institute for New Functionalilty in Glasses (http://www.lehigh.edu/imi/)
Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometers
In the infrared, which is the region of molecular vibrations,
wavenumbers range from 300 to 5000 cm-1 (33 to 2 m))
interferometers are used instead of dispersion monochromators

Light sources Detectors

-Black body radiation of a -Pyroelectric detectors
heated silicon carbide coil -MCT (HgCdTe) – highly sensitive

Michelson Interferometer

The FT analysis of the

resulting interferogram (f(cm))
gives us
the infrared spectrum (f(cm-1))
ref- P.Lucas- Glass Properties- 2nd Virtual Glass Course - International Materials
Institute for New Functionalilty in Glasses (http://www.lehigh.edu/imi/)
 Size effect in the band-gap value
“Quantum confinment in quantum dots” (“Quantum dots”- QD)

E
 146 nm

1128 nm

ref- P.Lucas- Glass Properties- 2nd Virtual Glass Course - International Materials
Institute for New Functionalilty in Glasses (http://www.lehigh.edu/imi/)
ref- P.Lucas- Glass Properties- 2nd Virtual Glass Course - International Materials
Institute for New Functionalilty in Glasses (http://www.lehigh.edu/imi/)
Ref. “Optical Materials”
by Joseph H. Simmons and Kelly S. Potter,
Academic Press, 2000

The Bohr diameter defines the smallest

structure that will exhibit bulk behavior
ref- P.Lucas- Glass Properties- 2nd Virtual Glass Course - International Materials
Institute for New Functionalilty in Glasses (http://www.lehigh.edu/imi/)
 Raman spectrum of a fluorindate glass

Highest energy vibrational modes

Intensidade (un.arb.)
Silica- 1100cm-1 (9,1m)
Fluorides- 510 cm-1 (19,6m) Highest energy
Chalcogenides- 300 cm-1 (33,3m) vibracional mode
510 cm-1 (19,6m)

100 200 300 400 500 600

Número de onda (cm-1)

2 important consequences

IR absorption edge
Non-radiative rates for transitions
Between lanthanides excited states

The lower the non-radiative rates,

The more efficient the radiative emission
will be!
We will come back to this!
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/automotive/in-dash-night-vision-system3.htm

ref- P.Lucas- Glass Properties- 2nd Virtual Glass Course - International Materials
Institute for New Functionalilty in Glasses (http://www.lehigh.edu/imi/)
Infrared Fibers
Chalcogenide glasses are transparent in the domain where the vibrational
signature of most molecules lies: 2-12 microns