ABSTRACT
There are many pioneers in this fi eld, too numerous to list and discuss, but we shall recount a few notable contributors [1-3]. The fi rst lenses were derived from quartz that was polished dating to eighth century B.C. Democritus attempted to explain color and claimed it was due to the “roughness of constituent atoms.” Euclid in the 4th-3rd century B.C. was one of the fi rst to study optics from a geometrical sense. In his seven axioms, he defi nes visual rays, cones, and “seeing as a result of lines falling on objects”; angles and their relation to size and clarity; and left, right, and high rays. Archimedes (5th-4th century B.C.) studied catoptrics, refl ections from surfaces and refraction. The Roman Seneca during the reigns of Caligula, Claudius, and Nero studied the properties of water with regard to magnifi cation. Hero of Alexandria (fi rst century) considered the
THREADS Chapter 4 represents the second part of the Electromagnetic Nanoengineering section, following chapter 3 on Nanoelectronics. It is interesting to note that electronics, optics, and magnetism are essentially inseparable. They are all part of the electromagnetic continuum. All involve electrons and photons. Nonetheless, we draw the boundary for our convenience. In chapter 4, we study the basics of light and its
interaction with matter. From there, we go on to investigate light’s interaction with nanomaterials. Once again, we fi nd that the size of matter has a great infl uence on the optical response of the material.
