Università Roma Tre

- Introduction to the course: purpose and presentation of the program.
- Outlines of Physics of Matter and Optics.
- Diffraction (X-rays and neutrons), Phase transitions, Nucleation of crystals and Gibbs free energy.
- Formation and processing of silica glasses
- Mechanical properties of materials.
- Description of soft matter, polymers and Random Walk.
- Entropy, entropic forces and free energy.
- Viscoelastic response and mechanical properties of soft matter.
- Processing of "soft" glass.
- Forced harmonic oscillator. Response of an electron distribution to an oscillating electric field.
- Origin of the refractive index and its dependence on the wavelength.
- Optical properties of metals and non-metals. Color. Absorption, dispersion and reflection of light. Diffusion of light. Abbe number and its relationship with the refractive index. Polarizers.
- Shape memory materials.
- Optical fibers.
- Surface treatments of the lenses.
- In-depth study of new materials for the production of contact lenses

Suggested book:
- William D. Callister, Jr – Scienza e ingegneria dei materiali. Un introduzione. Edises
- Lecture notes