We present models for the optical functions of 11 metals used as mirrors and contacts in optoelectronic and optical devices: noble metals (Ag, Au, Cu), aluminum, beryllium, and transition metals (Cr, Ni, Pd, Pt, Ti, W). We used two simple phenomenological models, the Lorentz–Drude (LD) and the Brendel–Bormann (BB), to interpret both the free-electron and the interband parts of the dielectric response of metals in a wide spectral range from 0.1 to 6 eV. Our results show that the BB model was needed to describe appropriately the interband absorption in noble metals, while for Al, Be, and the transition metals both models exhibit good agreement with the experimental data. A comparison with measurements on surface normal structures confirmed that the reflectance and the phase change on reflection from semiconductor–metal interfaces (including the case of metallic multilayers) can be accurately described by use of the proposed models for the optical functions of metallic films and the matrix method for multilayer calculations.

Optical and electron-energy-loss data for evaporated-aluminum films have been critically analyzed and used in an iterative, self-consistent algorithm that represents a combination of the Kramers–Kronig analysis and the semiquantum-model application. The novel values of the intrinsic optical functions of aluminum have been determined in a wide spectral range from 200 μm (6.2 meV) to 0.12 nm (10 keV). These functions are in accordance with recent calculations by Lee and Chang [Phys. Rev. B 49, 2362 (1994)], with dc conductivity measurements, and are in good agreement with both peak positions and line widths obtained from electron-energy-loss experiments. The results are examined for internal consistency by inertial and f-sum rules.

This tutorial presents a guided tour of laser feedback interferometry, from its origin and early development through its implementation to a slew of sensing applications, including displacement, distance, velocity, flow, refractive index, and laser linewidth measurement. Along the way, we provide a step-by-step derivation of the basic rate equations for a laser experiencing optical feedback starting from the standard Lang and Kobayashi model and detail their subsequent reduction in steady state to the excess-phase equation. We construct a simple framework for interferometric sensing applications built around the laser under optical feedback and illustrate how this results in a series of straightforward models for many signals arising in laser feedback interferometry. Finally, we indicate promising directions for future work that harnesses the self-mixing effect for sensing applications.

Optical dielectric function model of Ozaki and Adachi [J. Appl. Phys. 78, 3380 (1995)] is augmented by introducing Gaussian‐like broadening function instead of Lorentzian broadening. In this way a consistent and comparatively simple analytic formula has been obtained, which accurately describes the optical dielectric function of GaAs and AlAs in a wide spectral range between 0.1 and 6 eV. The acceptance‐probability‐controlled simulated annealing technique was used to fit the model to experimental data.