NEEM-6414 Optical Properties of Solids (IC 715)

Note: The following provides a suggested course description, objectives, and an outline. These may be modified pending discussion with the Faculty Chairs, proposing faculty, and other curriculum reviewers.

Course Description: This is an introductory course in the field of solid-state optoelectronics. It includes an introduction to the microscopic properties of semiconductor systems such as bulk semiconductors and semiconductor heterostructures as well as their linear and nonlinear optical response. It also contains a discussion of basic operation principles of optoelectronic devices such as lasers, light modulators and detectors. Some of the topics of this course will be covered in detail (for example the linear optical response of solids, simple optical properties of phonons and the physics of quantum wells), whereas other topics will only be covered in form of general overviews (for example nonlinear optical effects).

Course Objectives: There are two major goals of this course. First, the course should present basic facts about optical properties of solids based on their microscopic structure. Secondly, the student should be enabled to understand various optical and optoelectronic phenomena used in devices on the basis of the microscopic aspects presented in this course.

Course Outline by Topical Areas:

Basic concepts of optical response (Maxwell equations, dielectric optical response, refractive index and absorption, Lorentz oscillator model, dispersion relations, Lyddane-Sachs-Teller relation, Drude theory and basic plasma optics, Kramers-Kronig relations, polaritons, dielectric tensor, longitudinal plasma oscillations) .
Basic concepts of crystals (Bravais Lattices, Signer-Seitz cell, reciprocal lattices, lattice with basis, crystal symmetries, electronic wavefunctions in H+/2 molecule, Bloch wavefunctions, energy bands, Brillouin zone, effective masses, Fermi functions, classification of solids, electrons and holes, density-of-states).
Optical properties of phonons (optical and acoustic phonons, monatomic lattice dispersion relations, diatomic lattice, e-dimensional crystals, effective charges, Bose functions, optical excitation of phonons, infrared absorption, phonon polaritons, light scattering, Raman and Brillouin scattering, coherent Raman spectroscopy).
Linear optical properties of semiconductors (direct and indirect gap semiconductors, energy and momentum conservation in band-to-band transitions, optical absorption and quantum mechanical time-dependent perturbation theory, dipole-allowed optical transition in the parabolic band approximation, indirect optical transitions, excitons, two-particle Schrodinger equation, selection rules, first-class dipole allowed transitions, second-class dipole allowed transitions, excitonic absorption in first-class dipole allowed transitions, excitonic luminescence, examples of important semiconductors.
Quasi-two-dimensional semiconductors (quantum confinement, bandgap offset, quantum wells, envelope function approach, particle-in-box, subbands, supperlattices, compositional variations, lattice mismatch, optical transitions and selection rules, excitons in quantum wells).
Overview of electro-optical properties of semiconductors (Franz-Keldysh effect, DC Stark effect, exciton ionization, quantum-confined dc-Stark effect)
Overview of semiconductor optical nonlinearities (phase-space blocking, screening, bandgap renormalization, thermal nonlinearities, optical Stark effect, two-photon absorption).
Introduction to basic concepts of optoelectronic devices and semiconductor lasers (basic operation principles of LED's and lasers, doping p-n junctions forward and reverse bias, I-V curves, semiconductor lasers, photodetectors.