Optical & Magnetic

Materials

Optical Materials
Are substances used to manipulate the flow of light.
This can include reflecting, absorbing, focusing or
splitting anopticalbeam. The efficiency of a
specificmaterialat each task is strongly wavelength
dependent, thus a full understanding of the interaction
between light and matter is vital.
They also serve as light detectors and solar cells; they
are also capable of acting as cold light sources in form
of LED (Light-emitting diodes)

Application of Optical Materials

Optical materials widely use in gadgets such as smartphones
and tablets they have LCD (light crystal display) that emit light
like LEDs. They also have camera which detect light and form a
picture.
Optical materials also used in appliances like television light bulb
and other appliance that has light signal indicator.
Most common optical material is the mirror it simply reflect light.
Other applications are solar cells, lenses, eyeglasses, panels and
paint.

Light and Vision

Light has a dual nature: it is a high-frequency
electromagnetic wave with electric and magnetic
field vectors perpendicular to its propagation. It
consists of individual photons that each carry the
energy.
Vision is how we perceive light depends on the
light wavelength vision has many modes
depending on peak sensitivity of the cone.

Peak Sensitivity of the Cones

Interaction of Light with Electrons in

Solid

Absorption of Light when light acts on an electron that has energy a

photon can e absorbed if there are empty orbitals at energy. If no energy
level is available to the electron the photons is not absorbed. When light is
absorbed its intensity decreases as it travels a distance trough an
absorbing medium
Color is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the
categories called red, blue, yellow, etc. Color derives from the spectrum of
light (distribution of light power versus wavelength) interacting in the eye
with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors.
Refraction when the light cannot be absorbed it nevertheless interacts
with the electrons in the solid.

 Reflection of Light wave theory shows that and abrupt change in the
propagation of light at an interface, by refraction or by absorption.
Total Internal Reflection is a phenomenon which occurs when a propagating
wave strikes a medium boundary at an angle larger than a particular critical angle
with respect to the normal to the surface.

Polarization also called wavepolarization, is an expression of the orientation of

the lines of electric flux in an electromagnetic field (EMfield).
Polaroid is the best-known example of such a material. It consist of aligned
molecules of poly(vinyl alcohol) doped with iodine.
Liquid crystals consist of long rigid polar organic molecules that
are free to move as in a liquid but are aligned parallel to a vector called the director.

Dielectric Optical Coatings

Antireflection (AR) Coatings improves vision, reduces eye strain and makes
your eyeglasses look more attractive. These benefits are due to the ability
ofAR coatingto virtually eliminate reflections from the front and back surfaces
of your eyeglass lenses.

Dielectric Reflectors it is possible to create dielectric coatings that are highly

reflecting and behave as mirrors.

Filters Light filters that transmit in some regions of the spectrum but not in
others have been employed in slide projectors, energy saving devices and
assorted photography applications.

Phosphors a material that emits light when excited by high-energy electrons.

Example: electric fields, X-rays, or ultraviolet light.

Electro-optical Devices

Is a phenomena rely on the active coupling between electrical and

optical effects.

The Photodiode transforms light into an electric signal. It is a reverse biased

p-n junction. No current flows when the diode is in the dark.

The Solar Cell is a large-area p-n junction to which no external voltage is

applied. Illumination of the junction generates electron-hole pairs as in the
photodiode the built-in electric field.

The Light-Emitting Diode (LED) is forward-biased p-n junction. Electrons

and holes move into the recombination zone where they recombine and
release their energy by emitting a photon.

The Solid-State Laser is an LED that makes use of the phenomenon of

stimulated emission. It differs the ordinary LED into two aspects (1) it emits
much more intense light, and (2) the emitted light is coherent.

Electroluminescent Light Sources is the property of emitting light on activation

by an alternating current. Like LEDs, electroluminescent light sources are cold
sources in that they emit light at ambient temperature.

Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) is a planar light-emitting diode based on

organic semiconductors. The principle is that of an electroluminescent source with
the difference that the use of organic semiconductors permits the operation with a
DC power source.

Optical Recording

Compact discs (CDs) and Digital Video Discs (DVDs) utilize lasers to burn
and to read digital signals. The recording medium is 1.2mm thick disc of
polycarbonate coated with thin film of aluminum to increase optical
reflection.

In Read Only Memories (CD-ROMs) data are recorded by a laser that

burns indentations (pits) into the polymer

Read-write or erasable discs (CD-RW) are coated with the alloy

AgInSbTe. When heated to 400C by a laser pulse and cooled rapidly,
this alloy becomes amorphous

Optical Communications

The very high frequency of light permits the transmission of many

communications simultaneously over the same fiber.

Optical Fibers
Light transmission Optical communications require two important attributes of the
fiber, namely that light rays be confined to it, and that long distance transmission
occur with minimal loss in light intensity.
Loss Factor Light intensity in fibers declines exponentially with distance. It
is customary express this loss in terms of decibels (dB)
Absorption In optical fibers, the absorption coefficient is result of bulk
and intrinsic losses that vary with the wavelength.

Fiber Fabrication the first step in producing fiber is to make a modified chemical
vapor deposition (MCVD) a very pure precursor gases of SiCl4 and GeCl4 are mixed
with oxygen, transported in rotating silica tube and reacted at temp. of 1600C as a
result of oxidation small solid soot particles of SiO2

Magnetic Materials

Materials that can be magnetized, which are also the ones that are strongly
attracted to a magnet, are called ferromagnetic (or ferrimagnetic). These include
iron, nickel, cobalt, some alloys of rare earth metals, and some naturally
occurring minerals such as lodestone.

Hard magnets must retain their magnetization even in stray magnetic fields and
soft magnets must change their magnetization with the lowest possible
resistance.

Such Hard ferromagnetic materials advances in the magnetic strength

Application of Magnetic Materials

Used in electric motors, transformers, loudspeakers, cranes data processing and

in households.

They are used in the home to attach notes to the refrigerator door, as magnetic
catches holding the refrigerator closed, or to pick up small metallic objects

Is employed on a large scale in generators, transformers, and indicators for the

generation, transmission, storage, or conversion of electric power.

Magnetic Fields, Induction and

Magnetization
Magnetic
Field is a region around a magnetic material or a moving electric
charge within which the force of magnetism acts.

Induction the production of an electric or magnetic state by the proximity

(without contact) of an electrified or magnetized body.

Magnetization is the vector field that expresses the density of permanent or

induced magnetic dipole moments in a magnetic material.

Hysteresis Curves When an external magnetic field is applied to a

ferromagnet such as iron, the atomic dipoles align themselves with it. Even
when the field is removed, part of the alignment will be retained: the material
has become magnetized.

Energy Losses in an Alternating Magnetic Field

Hysteresis Losses At each cycle of alternating field , an energy corresponding to the
area inside the hysteresis curve Is lost and transformed into heat.
Eddy Currents a localized electric current induced in a conductor by a varying
magnetic field.

Soft Magnetsare those materials that are easily magnetized and

demagnetized. They typically have intrinsic coercive field less than 1000 Am -1.

Hard Magnets also referred to as permanentmagnets, aremagnetic materials

that retain their magnetism after being magnetized. Practically, this means
materials that have an intrinsic coercive field of greater than 10kAm -1. It is
believed that permanentmagnetshave been used for compasses by the
Chinese since 2500BC.

Ferromagnetic Materials

Ferromagnetic materials, such asiron, contain unpaired electrons, each with a

small magnetic field of its own, that align readily with each other in response to an
external magnetic field. This alignment tends to persists even after the magnetic
field is removed, a phenomenon called hysteresis.

Magnetic Moments
Magnetic Moment of an Electron every electron has a spin just like the earth, it
spins
around its axis and carries a magnetic moment.
Magnetic Moment of an Atom in a single atom the total magnetic moment is
the vector sum of the orbital and spin magnetic moments of all its electrons.

Ferromagnetism is the basic mechanism by which certain materials (such as iron)

form permanent magnets, or are attracted to magnets.

Ferrimagnetism is one that has populations of atoms with opposing magnetic

moments, as in antiferromagnetism; however, in ferrimagnetic materials, the
opposing moments are unequal and a spontaneous magnetization remains.

Temperature-Dependence of Magnetism
Curie temperature (TC), or Curie point, is the temperature at which certain
materials
lose their permanent magnetic properties, to be replaced by induced
magnetism.

Magnetic Domainsis a region within amagnetic material in which the

magnetization is in a uniform direction. This means that the individualmagnetic
moments of the atoms are aligned with one another and they point in the same
direction.

Interaction with a Magnetic Field and Hysteresis Curve a magnetic field

applied to a demagnetized ferromagnet tends to align the atomic moments in the
direction of magnetic field. This occurs by movement of the domain walls depicts a
demagnetized ferromagnet.

Properties and Processing of Magnetic

Materials

Soft Magnets domain walls move easily in a perfectly homogenous material.

Crystal defects such as grain boundaries, dislocations, impurities, or precipitates
are obstacles to the motion of domain walls. Therefore, soft magnets are processed
to contain as few defects as possible. This is achieved in three types of magnets.
Iron silicon steel, softs ferrites, and Metallic glasses.

Hard Magnets grain boundaries and the defects introduced by heavily deformed
or strained materials do impede the motion of domain walls and increase the
coercive field. By far the most effective way of achieve a high coercive field is the
use of shape anisotropy. Hard magnets are usually made from Alnico, rare earth
magnets, and ferrites.

Illustration: Magnetic Recording

is the storage of data on a magnetized medium.Magneticstorage uses

different patterns of magnetization in a magnetizable material to store
data and is a form of non-volatile memory.

Giant Magnetoresistance (GMR) is a quantum mechanical

magnetoresistanceeffect observed in thin-film structures composed of
alternating ferromagnetic and non-magnetic conductive layers.