History Of Metal Optical Frames
The development history of metal optics can be traced back to the period when the elastic ether theory of light was advocated in the middle of the 19th century, and the Fresnel formula for transparent media (see the refraction and reflection of light on the interface) was established at that time.
People began to pay attention to the reflective properties of metals and measured their refractive index and absorption coefficient. But major advances in metal optics came after Maxwell's electromagnetic theory of light. Especially at the beginning of the 20th century, P. Drude applied the classical electron theory to the metal medium, so that the optical constant of the metal was related to its free electron parameter.
But theory and experiment are not consistent. Subsequent research work is mainly in the experimental aspect. For example, preparing samples in high vacuum, improving the measurement accuracy of optical quantities, performing low temperature measurements to observe temperature effects, etc. With the development of solid-state physics, metal optics was fully incorporated into the research field of solid-state physics in the 1950s, and was based on quantum theory.
However, due to historical reasons, some optics textbooks still have a chapter on "Metallic Optics", which mainly discusses the macroscopic optical properties of metals and their classical dispersion theory (for others, see the energy bands of solids, etc.)
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Sophie Yang
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