I keep seeing/hearing that the refractive index can be controlled in semiconductors, but every time I read something like that it's always something very specific, like "Refractive index dependence for GaAs" or even something like carrier injection or plasma dispersion effect. But I keep failing to find a reference that lays down the fundamental principle that could be applied to any semiconductor, or junction. Can anyone recommend any reference?
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I’m not sure whether you’ll find exactly what you want since any mechanism affecting the interaction between light and a material will change it’s refractive index. As I understand it, the scope of the question includes arbitrary materials, arbitrary wavelength, and arbitrary physical mechanism. I’m afraid such a single resource doesn’t exist.
As an example of the breadth of this request, let’s just list a few ways refractive index can change based solely on a temperature change:
- Thermal expansion/contraction changing the unit cell size
- Carrier density change through thermal excitation (this is different for metals, semiconductors, etc.)
- Phonon population change
These are all different physics and apply to different materials in different ways. And it’s non-exhaustive! That’s why you’ll only find specific references. Narrow your search!