What Is Different About Metals?

William P. Barnes Jr.

doi:10.1117/12.954505

15 January 1976 What Is Different About Metals?

William P. Barnes Jr.

Proceedings Volume 0065, Design, Manufacture and Application of Metal Optics; (1976) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.954505
Event: 19th Annual Technical Symposium, 1975, San Diego, United States

Abstract

If one is to choose a single physical property of importance in optical applications in which metals differ markedly from other mirror substrate materials, the obvious choice is thermal conductivity. The overwhelming reason for this difference is that the valence electrons in metals are free of the influence of the individual atoms. In dielectric solids the valence electrons are an integral part of the interatomic bond; they are tightly captured by pairs or very small groups of neighboring atoms. The transport properties of metals can be fairly accurately calculated by assuming that the electrons behave as a dense gas cloud and by applying appropriate statistical mechanics theories.

Citation Download Citation

William P. Barnes Jr. "What Is Different About Metals?", Proc. SPIE 0065, Design, Manufacture and Application of Metal Optics, (15 January 1976); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.954505

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