Properties of the Fundamental Optical Functions of Magnesium Silicide
The spectra of 16 optical Mg{sub 2}Si functions in the range from 0 to 11 eV at 77 K are determined. They contain five maxima and shoulders due to interband transitions and metastable excitons, as well as the maxima of bulk and surface plasmons at ~9.56 and ~7.30 eV. Their peculiarities and general patterns of behavior are established. Calculations were performed based on a well-known experimental reflection spectrum in the range from 0 to 11 eV at 77 K. The integral spectra of the imaginary parts of the permittivity ε{sub 2}(E), characteristic bulk (–Im ε{sup –1}), and surface (–Im (1 + ε){sup –1}) energy losses of electrons are expanded into elementary components in the region from 2 to 5 eV. The main parameters of the transition components were determined, including the energies of their maxima and oscillator strengths. Calculations were carried out using computer programs based on the Kramers–Kronig relations and known analytical formulas for the correlation between optical functions, as well as an improved nonparametric method of combined Argand diagrams taking into account the effective number of valence electrons participating in the formation of individual bands. Instead of five maxima and shoulders of the integral spectra, 17 elementary bands with oscillator strengths in the range from 0.0003 to 1.92 were established. They are due to transverse and longitudinal type excitonic and interband transitions. Based on known theoretical calculations, we propose herein the localization and assumed nature of the optical transition bands.