ECEN5385 – Optical Properties of Materials

Spring 2009

Syllabus

Time & Location: T Th 9:30 – 10;45 am, ECEE 265

Texts: Required: Optical Properties of Solids (2005), by Mark Fox;

and online materials

Possibly useful: Semiconductor Optics (any edition, but the 2007 is the most complete), by Klingshirn

Homework: Usually assigned every two weeks. (No late homework accepted.)

Grading: Homework 30%

Project 40%

Final Exam 30%

Instructor: Professor Garret Moddel

Office: ECEE 148

E-mail: moddelatcolorado.edu

Office hours: Tues & Thurs 11:00-11:50 am

or email to make appointment

Graders: Sachit Grover (sachitelectricatgmail.com) & Xi Chen (xi.chenatcolorado.edu)

Prerequisite: ECEN 5345, 4345, PHYS 4340, or equivalent course on solid

state physics at the level of Elementary Solid State Physics, by Omar, or Intro. to Solid State Physics, by Kittel, or consent of instructor

Course Goals:

• To gain a broad understanding of the optical properties of materials by surveying physical descriptions of optical processes in several classes of materials.
• To develop an understanding of optical properties of semiconductors by studying optical processes in semiconductors from first principles.
• To provide a practical foundation for working with optoelectronics technology in the 21st century.
• To enjoy a view into the underlying rules of the nature of matter and its interaction with light.

Material to be Covered:

Metals, including dispersion, Drude model, Kramers-Kronig relations, and plasmons

Insulators, including phonons, dielectrics, ferroelectrics

Liquid crystals, including classes, and optical response

Semiconductors (linear optical properties), including band and excitonic transitions, absorption, luminescence, photoconductivity, amorphous semiconductors, quantum wells, superlattices, electro-optical properties (This section will start with a review of basic quantum mechanics principles.)

Optoelectronic devices

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