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Introduction:
Optoelectronics is the study and application of electronic devices that interact with light.
Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs):
Light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor diode that emits incoherent light over relatively wide
spectral range when electrically biased in the forward direction of the p-n junction.
Insulator:
A material of such low conductivity that the flow of current through it is negligible.
Conductor:
A substance, body, or device that readily conducts heat, electricity, sound, etc.: Copper is a good
conductor of electricity.
Semi-Conductor:
A substance, as silicon or germanium, with electrical conductivity intermediate between that of an
insulator and a conductor: a basic component of various kinds of electronic circuit element
(semiconductor device) used in communications, control, and detection technology and in
computers.

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Atom:
The smallest component of an element having the chemical properties of the element, consisting of a
nucleus containing combinations of neutrons and protons and one or more electrons bound to the
nucleus by electrical attraction; the number of protons determines the identity of the element.

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Visible Light:
Electromagnetic radiation that can produce a visual sensation; "the light was filtered through a soft
glass window".
Ultraviolet:
Beyond the violet in the spectrum, corresponding to light having wavelengths shorter than 4000
angstrom units.
Ultraviolet Light:
Radiation lying in the ultraviolet range; wave lengths shorter than light but longer than X rays.
X-Rays:
Often, x-rays. a form of electromagnetic radiation, similar to light but of shorter wavelength and
capable of penetrating solids and of ionizing gases. Such radiation having wavelengths in the range of
approximately 0.110 nm.
Gamma-Rays:
A photon of penetrating electromagnetic radiation (gamma radiation) emitted from an atomic
nucleus.
A photon emitted by an electron as a result of internal conversion.
Electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths shorter than approximately one tenth of a nanometer.

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Photon:
A quantum of electromagnetic radiation, usually considered as an elementary particle that is its own
antiparticle and that has zero rest mass and charge and a spin of one. Symbol: . Also called Light
Quantum.
Radio Waves:
An electromagnetic wave having a wavelength between 1 millimeter and 30,000 meters, or a
frequency between 10 kilohertz and 300,000 megahertz.
A very low frequency electromagnetic wave (from roughly 30 kilohertz to 100 gigahertz). Radio waves
are used for the transmission of radio and television signals; the microwaves used in radar and
microwave ovens are also radio waves. Many celestial objects, such as pulsars, emit radio waves

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Electromagnetic Spectrum:
The entire range of electromagnetic radiation. At one end of the spectrum are gamma rays, which
have the shortest wavelengths and high frequencies. At the other end are radio waves, which have
the longest wavelengths and low frequencies. Visible light is near the center of the spectrum.
Microwave:
An electromagnetic wave with a frequency in the range of 100 megahertz to 30 gigahertz (lower than
infrared but higher than other radio waves). Microwaves are used in radar, radio transmission,
cooking, and other applications. Microwaves are generated naturally by many astronomical
phenomena and are found in cosmic background radiation.

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Infrared Rays:
Infrared rays are one type of these waves that are emitted by human beings, their environment and
even celestial bodies millions of light years away. Since its discovery in 1800, scientists have been
applying the use of infrared rays for practical purposes and exploring its impact on human health.
Radiation:
The process in which energy is emitted as particles or waves.
The complete process in which energy is emitted by one body, transmitted through an intervening
medium or space, and absorbed by another body.

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Wave:
Wave, in physics, the transfer of energy by the regular vibration, or oscillatory motion, either of some
material medium or by the variation in magnitude of the field vectors of an electromagnetic field.
Frequency:
Number of waves that pass a fixed point per unit time; also, the number of cycles or vibrations
undergone in unit time by a body in periodic motion.
Wavelength:
The distance, measured in the direction of propagation of a wave, between two successive points in
the wave that are characterized by the same phase of oscillation.

Amplitude:
The absolute value of the maximum displacement from a zero value during one period of an
oscillation.
The maximum deviation of an alternating current from its average value.

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Light Theory:
What is light?
Light is part of the electromagnetic spectrum, the spectrum is the collection of all waves, which
include visible light, Microwaves, radio waves (AM, FM, SW), X-Rays, and Gamma Rays.
Sir Isaac Newton, held the theory that light was made up of tiny particles. In 1678, Dutch physicist,
Christiaan Huygens, believed that light was made up of waves vibrating up and down perpendicular to
the direction of the light travels, and therefore formulated a way of visualising wave propagation.
This became known as 'Huygens' Principle'. Huygens theory was the successful theory of light wave
motion in three dimensions. Huygen, suggested that light wave peaks form surfaces like the layers of
an onion. In a vacuum, or other uniform mediums, the light waves are spherical, and these wave
surfaces advance or spread out as they travel at the speed of light. This theory explains why light
shining through a pin hole or slit will spread out rather than going in a straight line (see diffraction).
Newton's theory came first, but the theory of Huygens, better described early experiments. Huygens'
principle lets you predict where a given wavefront will be in the future, if you have the knowledge of
where the given wavefront is in the present.
At the time, some of the experiments conducted on light theory, both the wave theory and particle
theory, had some unexplained phenomenon, Newton could not explain the phenomenon of light
interference, this forced Newton's particle theory in favour of the wave theory. This difficulty was due
to the unexplained phenomenon of light Polarisation - scientists were familiar with the fact that wave
motion was parallel to the direction of wave travel, NOT perpendicular to the to the direction of wave
travel, as light does.
In 1803, Thomas Young studied the interference of light waves by shining light through a screen with
two slits equally separated, the light emerging from the two slits, spread out according to Huygen's
principle. Eventually the two wave fronts will overlap with each other, if a screen was placed at the
point of the overlapping waves, you would see the production of light and dark areas (see
interference).
Later in 1815, Augustin Fresnel supported Young's experiments with mathematical calculations.
In 1900 Max Planck proposed the existence of a light quantum, a finite packet of energy which
depends on the frequency and velocity of the radiation.
In 1905 Albert Einstein had proposed a solution to the problem of observations made on the
behaviour of light having characteristics of both wave and particle theory. From work of Plank on
emission of light from hot bodies, Einstein suggested that light is composed of tiny particles called
photons, and each photon has energy.

Light theory branches in to the physics of quantum mechanics, which was conceptualised in the
twentieth century. Quantum mechanics deals with behaviour of nature on the atomic scale or smaller.
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As a result of quantum mechanics, this gave the proof of the dual nature of light and therefore not a
contradiction.

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Light Wave Theory
Light can exhibit both a wave theory, and a particle theory at the same time. Much of the time, light
behaves like a wave. Light waves are also called electromagnetic waves because they are made up of
both electric (E) and magnetic (H) fields. Electromagnetic fields oscillate perpendicular to the direction
of wave travel, and perpendicular to each other. Light waves are known as transverse waves as they
oscillate in the direction traverse to the direction of wave travel.
The Electromagnetic Wave
Waves have two important characteristics - wavelength and frequency.

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The Sine Wave
The sine wave is the fundamental waveform in nature. When dealing with light waves, we refer to the
sine wave. The period (T) of the waveform is one full 0 to 360 degree sweep. The relationship of
frequency and the period is given by the equation:
f = 1 / T
T = 1 / f
The waveforms are always in the time domain and go on for infinity.
Wavelength: This is the distance between peaks of a wave. Wavelengths are measured in units of
length - meters, When dealing with light, wavelengths are in the order of nanometres (1 x 10-9)
Frequency: This is the number of peaks that will travel past a point in one second. Frequency is
measured in cycles per second. The term given to this is Hertz (Hz) named after the 19th century
discoverer of radio waves - Heinrich Hertz. 1 Hz = 1 cycle per second
The speed of a wave can be found by multiplying the two units together. The wave's speed is
measured in units of length (distance) per second:
Wavelength x Frequency = Speed

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The Speed Of Light
The speed of light in a vacuum is a universal constant, about 300,000 km/s or 186,000 miles per
second. The exact speed of light is: 299,792.458 km/s
It takes approximately 8.3 min for light from the sun the reach the earth ( 150,000,000 / 300,000 / 60
= 8.3 )
Taking the distance of the sun from Earth into account, which is 150,000,000 km, and the fact that
light travels at 300,000 km/s, it shows in someway how fast light actually travels.

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Reflection:
The change in direction of a wave, such as a light or sound wave, away from a boundary the wave
encounters. Reflected waves remain in their original medium rather than entering the medium they
encounter. According to the law of reflection, the angle of reflection of a reflected wave is equal to its
angle of incidence.
Refraction:
The bending of a wave, such as a light or sound wave, as it passes from one medium to another
medium of different density. The change in the angle of propagation depends on the difference
between the index of refraction of the original medium and the medium entered by the wave, as well
as on the frequency of the wave.

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Scattering:
The process in which a wave or beam of particles is diffused or deflected by collisions with particles of
the medium that it traverses.
Flux:
The rate of flow of fluid, particles, or energy.
Inverse Square Law:
An inverse-square law is any physical law stating that some physical quantity or strength is inversely
proportional to the square of the distance from the source of that physical quantity.
Radiometry:
Radiometry means measuring or detecting the radiation. A device used to detect or measure radiation
is called Radiometer.
Photometry:
The measurement of the intensity of light or of relative illuminating power.

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Glow Discharge Lamp: (also called: Electric Glow Discharge)
Electric glow discharge is a type of plasma formed by passing a current at 100 V to several kV through
a gas, usually argon or another noble gas. It is found in products such as fluorescent lights and plasma-
screen televisions, and is used in plasma physics and analytical chemistry.

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How Projector Works?Projector: Its an electronic device used to project rays of light esp. an
apparatus with a system of lenses for projecting images or film onto a screen.
Types of Projector:
1. CRT (Cathode Ray Tube)
2. LCD (Liquid Crystal Display)
3. DLP (Digital Light Processing)
CRT Projector:
1. A CRT, fires a beam of electrons at a phosphor-coated screen.
2. Every time an electron comes into contact with screen, that point, called a pixel glows.
3. Color CRT use three electron beams and separate phosphorus of Red, Green & Blue.

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LCD Projector:
1. At the center of Projector is a halogen bulb, which is surrounded by three LCD panels.
2. These panels produce light.
3. As the halogen bulb heats up, the crystals melt and allow more light to pass through.
4. Images travel into the tube present inside the projector from DVD or Satellite Box etc.
5. These images hit a surface coated with phosphorus.
6. Every fragment of light hitting the screen is called Pixel.
7. On hitting the screen, the pixel breaks down into its color components, RGB.
8. The heat produced by halogen bulb is controlled by voltage that flows into the LCD Video
Projector.
9. The 3 LCD Panels can produce more than 16 Million colors, depending upon the voltage which
flows into the LCD Video Projector.
10. A single panel deals with one color. Like one for Red, one for Green & One for Blue.
11. The color images travel as three separate beams of light and hit the wall. Here colors fall on
each other to produce the true colors.

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Plasma Display:
A plasma display panel (PDP) is a type of flat panel display now commonly used for large TV displays
(typically above 37-inch). Many tiny cells located between two panels of glass hold an inert mixture of
noble gases. The gas in the cells is electrically turned into a plasma which then excites phosphors to
emit light. Plasma displays are commonly confused with LCDs, another lightweight flatscreen display
but with very different technology.
DPI:
dots per inch: a measure of the resolution of a typesetting machine, computer screen, etc
Diode:
A device, as a two-element electron tube or a semiconductor, through which current can pass freely in
only one direction.
Laser:
A device that produces a nearly parallel, nearly monochromatic, and coherent beam of light by
exciting atoms to a higher energy level and causing them to radiate their energy in phase.

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Incandescent Lamp (LAB):
Any of various devices that produce light by heating a suitable material to a high temperature. In an
electric incandescent lamp, or lightbulb, a filament is enclosed in a glass shell that is either evacuated
or filled with an inert gas. The filament gives off light when heated by an electric current. The first
practical electric incandescent lamps were independently produced in the late 1870s by Joseph Swan
and Thomas Alva Edison. Edison has received the major credit because of his development of the
power lines and other equipment needed for a lighting system. Inefficient in comparison with
fluorescent lamps and electric discharge lamps, incandescent lighting is today reserved mainly for
domestic use.