The design, modeling, fabrication, and validation of an optical magnetic response in dielectric-based metamaterials are studied. These metamaterials consist of either periodic or random arrays of dielectric particle inclusions, which may be spheres, coated spheres, or completely randomly shaped. It is demonstrated that because of the simple particle shapes and dielectric materials, these metamaterials are quite easy and feasible to implement in a bulk, three-dimensional sample, and the response is isotropic. This in is contrast to other predominant designs of optical metamaterials, which are planar and anisotropic arrays of complicated metallic fishnet or split-ring resonator structures, which require stringent tolerances and sophisticated assembly. It is shown that SiC is one of many materials from which such infrared magnetic metamaterials can be constructed. A simple SiC powder is used to verify these claims. The milled micropowder of crystalline SiC is comprised of particles of random shapes and sizes. A model of the electromagnetic response of such powders is developed, whereby the induced magnetic dipole response is modeled by equivalently-sized spheres of SiC, whereas the electric dipole response is modeled by a continuous distribution of ellipsoidal particles. Infrared spectroscopic measurements and numerical calculations are performed, verifying both the magnetic and electric response of the powder. A alternate approach is also described, where uniform SiC microspheres are fabricated using more sophisticated nanochemical techniques. In the final portion of the dissertation, the mutual near-field coupling between ideal magnetic dipoles induced in dielectric spheres is studied. This is implemented for microwave frequencies using large permittivity ceramic spheres. An approximate coupled dipole model of the multiple scattering among the spheres is developed, and a transition matrix method is implemented to calculate the exact scattering by the clusters. Experimental measurements are performed, confirming the two models. The results for pairs, chains, and rings of spheres indicates that the magnetic dipole modes hybridize in analogy to atomic bonding. A notable result is that certain hybridized magnetic dipole modes may have a net electric dipole moment. The similarity to atomic and molecular bonding should prove useful in conceptualizing and designing more sophisticated metamaterials.

The design, modeling, fabrication, and validation of an optical magnetic response in dielectric-based metamaterials are studied. These metamaterials consist of either periodic or random arrays of dielectric particle inclusions, which may be spheres, coated spheres, or completely randomly shaped. It is demonstrated that because of the simple particle shapes and dielectric materials, these metamaterials are quite easy and feasible to implement in a bulk, three-dimensional sample, and the response is isotropic. This in is contrast to other predominant designs of optical metamaterials, which are planar and anisotropic arrays of complicated metallic fishnet or split-ring resonator structures, which require stringent tolerances and sophisticated assembly. It is shown that SiC is one of many materials from which such infrared magnetic metamaterials can be constructed. A simple SiC powder is used to verify these claims. The milled micropowder of crystalline SiC is comprised of particles of random shapes and sizes. A model of the electromagnetic response of such powders is developed, whereby the induced magnetic dipole response is modeled by equivalently-sized spheres of SiC, whereas the electric dipole response is modeled by a continuous distribution of ellipsoidal particles. Infrared spectroscopic measurements and numerical calculations are performed, verifying both the magnetic and electric response of the powder. A alternate approach is also described, where uniform SiC microspheres are fabricated using more sophisticated nanochemical techniques. In the final portion of the dissertation, the mutual near-field coupling between ideal magnetic dipoles induced in dielectric spheres is studied. This is implemented for microwave frequencies using large permittivity ceramic spheres. An approximate coupled dipole model of the multiple scattering among the spheres is developed, and a transition matrix method is implemented to calculate the exact scattering by the clusters. Experimental measurements are performed, confirming the two models. The results for pairs, chains, and rings of spheres indicates that the magnetic dipole modes hybridize in analogy to atomic bonding. A notable result is that certain hybridized magnetic dipole modes may have a net electric dipole moment. The similarity to atomic and molecular bonding should prove useful in conceptualizing and designing more sophisticated metamaterials.

This thesis describes a number of novel experiments contributing to the understanding of protein adsorption from both a fundamental and applied perspective. The first three papers involve the use of the localized surface plasmon resonance of gold nanospheres to measure protein conformational dependencies during heat and acid denaturation. Thermal denaturation of BSA is shown to proceed differently depending on the size of nanosphere to which it is conjugated. Activation energies are extracted for thermal denaturing on nanoparticles. These energies decrease with decreasing radius of curvature. Under pH perturbation in the acid region, the multiple transition states of bulk BSA are suppressed, and only one apparent transition around pH 4 is evident. Smaller spheres (diameter < 20nm) do not exhibit any transition. A significant finding of all three studies is that the state and stability of BSA depends strongly upon local curvature. The last two papers investigate protein adsorption relevant to the biomaterial field. Investigation of protein adsorption to polyHEMA hydrogels is carried out using a quartz crystal microbalance. Single and mixed protein adsorption kinetics for BSA, lysozyme and lactoferrin are extracted and interpreted. Selected commercial cleaning solutions are shown to be no more effective than simple buffer solution. Examination of commercial lenses indicates that the morphology of adsorption is material dependent and that siloxane-based hydrogels only deposit low levels of protein. A unique fibril-like morphology is identified on galyfilcon A. Protein morphology is discussed in terms of bare lens morphology, roughness, and surface composition.

This thesis describes a number of novel experiments contributing to the understanding of protein adsorption from both a fundamental and applied perspective. The first three papers involve the use of the localized surface plasmon resonance of gold nanospheres to measure protein conformational dependencies during heat and acid denaturation. Thermal denaturation of BSA is shown to proceed differently depending on the size of nanosphere to which it is conjugated. Activation energies are extracted for thermal denaturing on nanoparticles. These energies decrease with decreasing radius of curvature. Under pH perturbation in the acid region, the multiple transition states of bulk BSA are suppressed, and only one apparent transition around pH 4 is evident. Smaller spheres (diameter < 20nm) do not exhibit any transition. A significant finding of all three studies is that the state and stability of BSA depends strongly upon local curvature. The last two papers investigate protein adsorption relevant to the biomaterial field. Investigation of protein adsorption to polyHEMA hydrogels is carried out using a quartz crystal microbalance. Single and mixed protein adsorption kinetics for BSA, lysozyme and lactoferrin are extracted and interpreted. Selected commercial cleaning solutions are shown to be no more effective than simple buffer solution. Examination of commercial lenses indicates that the morphology of adsorption is material dependent and that siloxane-based hydrogels only deposit low levels of protein. A unique fibril-like morphology is identified on galyfilcon A. Protein morphology is discussed in terms of bare lens morphology, roughness, and surface composition.

Les microalgues autotrophes sont une source prometteuse de biomasse pour des applications aussi variées que l'extraction de molécules, l'alimentation animale et humaine, la production énergétique ou la décontamination environnementale. La production de masse est donc en forte augmentation dans le monde. Cependant, les techniques actuelles pour caractériser l'état physiologique des cellules algales au cours de la croissance sont coûteuses en main d'œuvre et en temps, souvent basées sur du matériel de mesure générique répondant mal au cahier des charges. Elles sont inadaptées à la mesure en ligne.De nouveaux outils doivent donc être développés pour optimiser le pilotage des procédés de culture, en effectuant des mesures rapides de l'état physico-chimique des cellules. La spectroscopie visible (VIS) et proche infrarouge (NIR) se présente comme une solution pratique. De plus des travaux antérieurs ont démontrés que les propriétés spectrales d'absorption et de diffusion des cellules d'algues dans le domaine VIS-NIR sont très corrélées à leur caractéristiques chimiques (pigments) et physiques (tailles, densité des cellules). Les densités de cellules considérées en cultures denses sont très élevées (10^6-10^9 cellules/mL), rendant inévitables les phénomènes de multidiffusion. Cependant ces derniers ont été identifiés comme gênants pour l'extraction de données à partir des spectres mesurés, car ils rendent l'hypothèse de validité de la loi de Beer Lambert fausse. Dans cette thèse nous nous intéressons à l'extraction de données sur la physiologie des cellules algales à partir de mesures spectrales effectuées sur des échantillons denses, non-dilués, directement issus du milieu de culture. Notre approche se décline en plusieurs axes, correspondants aux différentes échelles de description du problème. D'abord, l'échelle de l'échantillon algal global est considérée. Nous en définissons les propriétés spectrales apparentes, et analysons le problème pratique de leur mesure. Nous avons utilisé un montage à double sphères d'intégration et développé un protocole de mesure complet, que nous décrivons. Ensuite, les propriétés spectrales linéaires intrinsèques au milieu algal sont abordées, et nous cherchons à les reliées aux propriétés apparentes de l'échantillon. Pour cela nous utilisons le formalisme de l'équation de transfert radiatif (ETR) donnant une modélisation rigoureuse des phénomènes de multidiffusion à l'œuvre dans les milieux turbides. En pratique, résoudre l'ETR ne peut se faire que par une approximation ou la simulation. Dans nos travaux nous examinons la méthode Adding-Doubling et son inverse, utilisées avec succès par d'autres équipes sur des échantillons turbides de tissus biologiques. En troisième lieu, l'échelle de description de la cellule d'algue individuelle est abordée. AlgaSim, un programme de simulation basé sur la théorie de Mie étendue, a été développé au cours de cette thèse pour modéliser les spectres d'absorption et de diffusion d'une cellule algale décrite par ses paramètres physiologiques, tels que la taille et le poids sec, les proportions des différents matériaux cellulaires, la quantité et la composition des pigments. Ainsi, les liens entre propriétés physiques et chimiques de la cellule et ses propriétés spectrales sont étudiés. Enfin, une méthode complète est proposée pour articuler toutes les échelles de description précédemment examinées. Les liens entre propriétés intrinsèques du milieu algal et les propriétés optiques individuelles des cellules sont cherchés. Les paradigmes développés aux différentes échelles sont ensuite mis bout à bout pour relier la description physiologique des cellules d'algue aux propriétés spectrales apparentes mesurées sur un échantillon donné. La méthode est testée sur des échantillons algaux réels. Les premiers résultats sont prometteurs, démontrant le potentiel opérationnel de la spectroscopie VIS-NIR pour le suivi de procédés de culture dense de microalgues. / Autotrophic microalgae are seen as a promising source of biomass for various applications such as chemicals extraction, animal and human food, energy production and environment cleaning. Consequently, the global mass production of microalgae has largely increased over the last decade. However, the current techniques used for the characterization of the algal cells all along the growth process require time-consuming sample preparation, a large amount of costly, standard instrumentation and cannot usually be performed in situ.New tools are needed to optimize the monitoring of the cultivation process by providing a faster measurement of the microalgal cells physical and chemical states. For this purpose, utilizing visible (VIS) and near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy is looked as a promising solution. Moreover, previous studies demonstrated that the spectral absorption and scattering properties of microalgal suspensions in the VIS-NIR domain depend heavily on the chemical characteristics (pigments) and physical characteristics of the cells (size, density of the cells). In a context of cultivation process, cell density in the culture medium is very high (10^6-10^9 cell/mL) which makes the multi-scattering phenomena significant. However, recent studies have showed that the data extraction from spectroscopic measurements performed on turbid samples is highly complicated by the influence of the scattering phenomena on the spectra, making the classical processing methods based on the assumption of Beer law irrelevant. This thesis addresses the issue of retrieving information about the physiological state of microalgal cells from spectral measurements performed on non-diluted, dense bulk culture media. For this purpose, our approach includes successive guidelines, corresponding to different scales of description. First, the scale of the bulk algal aliquot is considered: the apparent spectral properties are defined, and the practical issue of measuring them with an adapted setup is investigated. In particular, a double-integrating sphere setup, as well as a complete measurement protocol are implemented. Second, the intrinsic linear spectral properties of the dense algal medium are defined, and the links between the intrinsic and apparent spectral properties are investigated. The formalism of the radiative transport equation (RTE) is used for this purpose, as it rigorously models the physical phenomena due to multiple scattering. Solving the RTE must be implemented in practice with an approximation or simulation method. In this work, we investigate in particular the Adding-Doubling method and its inverse, which have been proved to be adapted to the case of highly turbid organic tissues and materials. Third, the scale of an individual algal cell is considered. In this thesis we have developed a simulation program called AlgaSim based of the extended Mie theory, which makes it possible to simulate the spectral absorption and scattering properties of an algal cell described by its physiological characteristics, such as its mean size and dry weight, proportions of different cell materials and pigment quantity and composition. The links between the chemical and physical properties of an algal cell and its spectral properties are thus investigated.Finally, a complete method is proposed to link all the scales of description. In particular, the links between the intrinsic spectral properties of an algal medium and the individual properties of the constitutive cells are considered. By organizing all the paradigms previously investigated, it is possible to implement a complete model linking the physiological description of the constitutive algal cells to the apparent spectral properties measured on a dense culture sample. The method and its inverse are tested on real algal samples. They show promising primary results, proving the operational potential of VIS-NIR spectroscopy for the monitoring of dense algal cultures.

O espalhamento de ondas eletromagnéticas por partículas isoladas, com propriedades ópticas e formatos arbitrários, encontra aplicações nas mais diversas áreas do conhecimento. Usualmente, o espalhamento eletromagnético é investigado via grandezas auferidas na região de campo distante. Para partículas inomogêneas, no entanto, as ressonâncias nas seções de choque de espalhamento podem não corresponder a um aumento de intensidade do campo eletromagnético nas vizinhanças imediatas da partícula (região de campo próximo). Esse efeito pode ser induzido em nanopartículas dielétricas com revestimentos plasmônicos e foi recentemente explicado em termos da ressonância de Fano. Essa ressonância resulta da interferência entre um modo eletromagnético não ressonante (processo de fundo) e um modo discreto ressonante (ressonância de plásmon), produzindo um formato assimétrico de linha espectral. Para o entendimento de como os modos de superfície no campo próximo acoplam-se às ressonâncias nas seções de choque, é necessário o cálculo de funcionais dos campos eletromagnéticos internos às partículas ou em suas vizinhanças imediatas. Neste estudo, calculamos a energia eletromagnética no interior de centros espalhadores nas geometrias esférica e cilíndrica. Fazemos aqui o vínculo dos campos internos às grandezas de espalhamento no campo distante via seção de choque de absorção e conservação de energia. Aplicamos nossos resultados a metamateriais dispersivos, estudando as propriedades do espalhamento por esferas revestidas e por esferas quirais, no regime de refração negativa, e por cilindros revestidos sob incidência oblíqua de radiação. Mediante a energia interna às partículas, demonstramos novos efeitos de aumento de intensidade de campo interno fora da ressonância de espalhamento e fornecemos resultados analíticos para a análise dessas ressonâncias, tanto em espalhamento simples quanto múltiplo. / Electromagnetic wave scattering by single particles with both shapes and optical properties arbitrary finds applications in several areas of knowledge. Usually, the electromagnetic scattering is investigated via measured quantities in the far-field region. However, for inhomogeneous particles, resonances in scattering cross sections may not correspond to the electromagnetic field enhancement in the vicinity of a particle (near-field). This effect can be induced in dielectric nanoparticles with plasmonic coatings, and it has recently been explained in terms of the Fano resonance. The Fano resonance results from the interference between a non-resonant electromagnetic mode (background or continuous) and a resonant discrete mode (localized plasmon resonance), leading to an asymmetric lineshape. To understand how the surface modes in the near-field are connected to the cross section resonances, functionals of the electromagnetic fields within scatterers or in their vicinity are required. In this study, we calculate the electromagnetic energy inside scatterers in both cylindrical and spherical geometries. We obtain a connection between the internal energy and the scattering quantities in the far-field via absorption cross section and energy conservation. We apply our results to dispersive metamaterials, studying scattering properties of coated and chiral spheres in the negative refraction regime, and coated cylinders under oblique incidence of radiation. By the electromagnetic energy inside particles, we demonstrate new off-resonance field enhancement effects and provide analytical tools to analyze these resonances in both single and multiple scattering regimes.

This thesis deals with the dark-field imaging and the optical spectroscopy of optically trapped plasmonic nanoparticles. The optical trapping and the characterization of a single particle or multiple nanoparticles as well are demonstrated. The number of the optically trapped particles can be estimated from the dark-field scattering intensity. Experiments show the presence of the interparticle coupling among trapped metallic nanoparticles which has not been observed in case of dielectric particles. The scattering spectra of the plasmonic nanoparticles were compared with theoretical models based on the Mie theory and the Discrete dipole approximation.

Dans ce mémoire, je propose une nouvelle technique optique de mesure de positions relatives 3D, tailles et indices de réfraction d’un ensemble de particules, éclairées par un faisceau laser plan pulsé : l’imagerie interférométrique de Fourier (FII). Dans le cadre de ce travail, les particules sont sphériques, homogènes transparentes et isotropes. Lorsque ces particules sont éclairées, elles se comportent comme des sources d’ondes lumineuses sphériques qui interférent entre elles. L’enregistrement des franges d’interférences et leur analyse par transformation de Fourier peut permettre d’accéder aux caractéristiques des particules. Dans ce mémoire, je décris l’influence des caractéristiques de particules sur les représentations spectrales des franges d’interférences crées par les couples de particules éclairées dans l’espace de Fourier 2D. Les franges d’interférences sont simulées numériquement en utilisant la théorie de Lorenz-Mie. Puis j’aborde le problème inverse en montrant comment il est possible de retrouver les caractéristiques des particules, en me servant de l’optique géométrique et du filtrage spatial par transformation de Fourier. / In this thesis, I propose a new optical technique for measuring 3D relative positions, sizes and refractive indices of a set of particles, which are illuminated by a plane and pulsed laser beam. In this work, the particles are spherical, transparent, homogeneous and isotropic. When these particles are illuminated, they have the behavior of sources of spherical light waves which interfere. The recording of interference fringes and analysisby Fourier transform can measure the characteristics of the particles. I describe the influence of particle characteristics on spectral representations of the interference fringes created by the pairs of particles illuminated in 2D Fourier space. The interference fringes are simulated numerically using the Lorenz-Mietheory. The inverse problem is approached by showing how it is possible to measure the characteristics of particles with geometrical optics and spatial filtering by Fourier transformation.

O espalhamento eletromagnético por uma esfera com propriedades ópticas e raio arbitrários, conhecido como espalhamento de Lorenz-Mie, ou por um cilindro circular infinito, pode ser resolvido analiticamente e é comumente tratado dentro da abordagem de espalhadores dielétricos. Na região óptica, tanto meio circundante quanto partícula espalhadora possuem o mesmo valor de permeabilidade magnética. A ausência do magnetismo nessa região do espectro torna o índice de refração relativo entre os meios interno e externo ao espalhador homogêneo equivalente ao respectivo índice de impedância óptica. Em regiões espectrais de micro-ondas ou radiofrequências, entretanto, materiais ferro- e ferrimagnéticos podem exibir valores absolutos de permeabilidade magnética extremamente elevados, reduzindo então a impedância óptica em comparação ao valor correspondente de índice de refração relativo. Uma característica marcante vinculada ao magnetismo no centro espalhador é que pequenas partículas comparadas com o comprimento de onda (parâmetros de tamanho na região de Rayleigh) podem apresentar grandes seções de choque de extinção a despeito de suas pequenas seções de choque geométricas. Isso torna possível, fisicamente, a presença de picos de ressonância morfológica na energia eletromagnética interna ao centro espalhador mesmo na região de parâmetros de tamanho inferiores à unidade. Em especial, mostramos que essa energia eletromagnética possui, no regime de fraca absorção, uma relação funcional simples com o comprimento de onda incidente e a seção de choque de absorção da partícula espalhadora, independentemente do formato geométrico da mesma. No espalhamento por uma coleção de partículas magnéticas, a velocidade de transporte de energia pode ser estimada a partir da energia eletromagnética média que é armazenada no interior de um centro espalhador isolado. Dessa maneira, a validade da relação universal que encontramos entre o fator de aumento da energia eletromagnética interna ao centro espalhador e sua correspondente seção de choque de absorção (no regime de baixa absorção óptica) implica na possibilidade de estimarmos de maneira simples a velocidade de transporte de energia em um meio desordenado. Um resultado decorrente dessa aproximação é que mesmo na região de Rayleigh a velocidade de transporte de energia em um meio magnético desordenado é drasticamente reduzida, levando, por conseguinte, à redução do coeficiente de difusividade dos fótons no meio. O estudo analítico e numérico da energia eletromagnética armazenada por uma esfera e por um cilindro magnéticos irradiados por ondas planas homogêneas são os temas em foco nesta dissertação de Mestrado. / Electromagnetic scattering by a sphere with arbitrary optical properties and radius, known as the Lorenz-Mie scattering, or by an infinite right circular cylinder can be solved analytically and is widely treated in the approach of dielectric scatterers. In the optical range, both embedding medium and scattering particle have the same magnetic permeability. The absence of magnetism in this spectral range leads to the equivalence between the relative refraction and impedance indices associated with the scatterers. However, in microwave or radio-frequency ranges, ferro- and ferrimagnetic materials can exhibit extremely huge values of magnetic permeability, which reduce the optical impedance in comparison to the corresponding value of relative refraction index. One striking feature associated with the magnetism in the scatterer is that particles smaller than the wavelength (Rayleigh size region) can present large extinction cross sections in despite of their small geometric cross sections. This becomes physically possible the presence of morphology-dependent resonances in the electromagnetic energy within the scatterer even in size parameters region smaller than unity. In particular, we show that this time-averaged electromagnetic energy has, in the weak absorption regime, a simple functional relation with the incident wavelength and the scatterer absorption cross section which does not depend on the shape of the scatterer. In the multiple scattering regime, the energy-transport velocity can be estimated from the time-averaged electromagnetic energy stored in a single scatterer. Thereby, the validity of the universal relation between the internal energy-enhancement factor and the absorption cross section respective to an arbitrary scattering center (in the weak absorption regime) implies that the energy-transport velocity in disordered media can be evaluated in a simple way. From this approximation, we obtain that even in the Rayleigh size region the energy-transport velocity in disordered magnetic media is dramatically reduced, which consequently leads to a reduction of the diffusion coefficient of the photons. The analytical and numerical studies of the time-averaged electromagnetic energy within magnetic isotropic spheres and cylinders irradiated by plane waves are our aim in this Master\'s degree dissertation.

Η παρούσα εργασία εστιάζεται στη μελέτη και την αλγοριθμική υλοποίηση των κλασσικών θεωριών Ενεργού Μέσου που αναπτύχθηκαν από τους Maxwell-Garnett και Bruggeman, μεταγενέστερες επεκτάσεις τους καθώς επίσης και ενός μοντέλου βασισμένο στη «θεωρία Mie», με σκοπό να διερευνηθεί εάν και σε ποιόν βαθμό, μπορούν να συμβάλλουν στην προσομοίωση του φαινομένου της τραχύτητας των διεπιφανειών μιας πολυστρωματικής δομής. Στόχος ακόμα της εργασίας είναι η ανάπτυξη φιλικού προς το χρήστη λογισμικού σε περιβάλλον Matlab, το οποίο να ενσωματώνει όλες τις υλοποιήσεις των ανωτέρω θεωριών Ενεργού Μέσου αλλά και εν μέρει να αυτοματοποιεί μέσω αυτών, τη αντιμετώπιση του φαινομένου της τραχύτητας. Το λογισμικό που αναπτύχθηκε συνδυάστηκε με υφιστάμενο λογισμικό της θεωρίας Χαρακτηριστικού Πίνακα για την συνολική αποτίμηση των οπτικών ιδιοτήτων σύνθετων επιστρώσεων. Στο πειραματικό σκέλος της εργασίας, αναπτύχθηκαν με τις μεθόδους Doctor Blade και εξάχνωσης με πυροβόλο δέσμης ηλεκτρονίων, δείγματα μονής επίστρωσης (διηλεκτρικών 𝑇𝑇𝑇2,𝑍𝑛𝑇), διπλής επίστρωσης τύπου «διηλεκτρικό-μέταλλο» (𝑊𝑇3/𝐴𝑔) και τριπλής επίστρωσης τύπου «διηλεκτρικό–μέταλλο-διηλεκτρικό» (𝑊𝑇3/𝐴𝑔/𝑊𝑇3). Για την ασφαλή αξιολόγηση των διαφόρων θεωρητικών μοντέλων που αναπτύχθηκαν, διενεργήθηκαν πολλαπλές μετρήσεις μορφολογίας, πάχους, τραχύτητας και οπτικής συμπεριφοράς (AFM, SEM, XRR, Προφιλομετρία ακίδας, UV-Vis φασματομετρία) Έτσι, τα πεδία σύγκρισης των μοντέλων με τα πειραματικά δεδομένα ήταν τα διαγράμματα φασματικής διαπερατότητας/ανακλαστικότητας και τα επιμέρους πάχη των συμπαγών στρωμάτων και των διεπιφανειών. Από τις απόπειρες προσομοίωσης των παραπάνω επιστρώσεων προκύπτουν σημαντικά συμπεράσματα αναφορικά με την εγκυρότητα των θεωρητικών μοντέλων ως προς την ικανότητα περιγραφής της οπτικής συμπεριφοράς. Το μοντέλο “Mie” περιγράφει εξαιρετικά την οπτική συμπεριφορά απλών υμενίων με έντονη παρουσία αέρα στο εσωτερικό τους, ανεξάρτητα από τα χαρακτηριστικά τραχύτητας που παρουσιάζουν. Αντίθετα, η εγκυρότητα των θεωριών Ενεργού Μέσου σε αυτές τις περιπτώσεις εξαρτάται αυστηρά από τα χαρακτηριστικά τραχύτητας. Παρόλα αυτά οι θεωρίες Ενεργού Μέσου και ιδιαίτερα η περίπτωση Bruggeman, επιτυγχάνουν μια ιδιαίτερα σημαντική βελτίωση στην πρόβλεψη της οπτικής συμπεριφοράς πολυστρωματικών επιστρώσεων – όπου η θεωρία Mie αποτυγχάνει - με την ενσωμάτωσης της τραχύτητας επιφάνειας και διεπαφών. Τέλος δίνονται κατευθύνσεις για την περεταίρω βελτίωση των μοντέλων εξομοίωσης της τραχύτητας αλλά και για την ανάπτυξη ενός ολοκληρωμένου προγράμματος που θα αντιμετωπίζει συνολικά το θέμα της θεωρητικής σχεδίασης επιστρώσεων λεπτών υμενίων. Αποτελέσματα της παρούσας, χρησιμοποιήθηκαν στην δημοσιευθείσα εργασία: • E. Koubli, S. Tsakanikas, G. Leftheriotis*, G. Syrrokostas and P. Yianoulis, Optical properties and stability of near-optimum WO3/Ag/WO3, Solid State Ionics. / This work focuses on the study and algorithmic implementation of the classical Effective Medium theories developed by Maxwell-Garnett and Bruggeman, subsequently extended versions of them as well as a “Mie Theory” based model, in order to investigate whether - and to which extend - they can be exploited for the simulation of surface and interface roughness of a multilayer structure. It also aims in the development of user-friendly software (Matlab graphical user interface), which will integrate the implementations of all the above theories, in order to easily attain different approaches to the composite medium and to deal with the phenomenon of roughness. The overall assessment of the optical properties of composite, multilayer coatings was achieved by the combination of the software described above with an existing Transfer Matrix program. The experimental part of this work included the development, through Doctor Blade and E-gun Vapor Deposition techniques, of single-layer coatings (𝑇𝑇𝑇2, ZnO dielectrics), double-layer coatings of the "dielectric-metal" type (𝑊𝑇3/𝐴𝑔) and triple-layer coatings of the "dielectric-metal-dielectric" type (𝑊𝑇3/𝐴𝑔/𝑊𝑇3). For the safe evaluation of the developed theoretical models, multiple experimental techniques (AFM, SEM, XRR, Step Profilometry, and UV-Vis Spectrometry) were used for the measurement of the morphology, thickness, roughness and optical performance of the coatings. Thus, the evaluation of the theoretical models was based upon the comparison to the experimental data, using criteria such as the spectral transmittance/reflectance response and the thickness of the individual compact layers and interfaces of the coatings. The simulations of the above coatings yielded important conclusions regarding the validity of the theoretical models in the description of optical behavior. "Mie" model is found to describe extremely well the optical properties of simple thin-films containing significant amounts of air, regardless of the roughness characteristics that they present. On the contrary, the validity of Effective Medium theories in such cases is strongly dependent on the characteristics of roughness. Nevertheless Effective Medium theories and particularly the case of Bruggeman are proved to significantly contribute in the forecasting of multilayer coatings’ optical behavior - where Mie theory fails – by the incorporation of surface and interfaces roughness. Finally, directions are given for further improvement for the roughness simulation models as well as for the development of a complete program that would holistically account for the theoretical design/simulation of thin-film coatings. Results of the present work were used in the following published paper: • E. Koubli, S. Tsakanikas, G. Leftheriotis*, G. Syrrokostas and P. Yianoulis, Optical properties and stability of near-optimum WO3/Ag/WO3, Solid State Ionics.