# Fitting Complex Metal Dielectric Functions with Differential Evolution Method

The real and imaginary part of dielectric permittivity of the metals is important to simulate the optical properties of metal films and nanoparticles. Permittivity data is obtained experimentally by ellipsometry and is fitted with analytical models. The most common model for fitting experimental data is with Drude-Lorentz model shown below. $$\epsilon(\omega)=1-\frac{f_1\omega_p^2}{(\omega^2+i\Gamma_1\omega)}+\sum_{j=2}^{n}\frac{f_j\omega_p^2}{(\omega_{o,j}^2-\omega^2-i\Gamma_j\omega)}$$ The first term is Read More …

# Dealing with plotting negative, zero and positive values in log scale

Sometimes you have to show positive, zero and negative number in log scale. However you cannot take log of negative numbers and zero. But one could approximate it with a log transform modulus as stated here. In Python with numpy: from numpy import sign, abs, log10 import matplotlib.pyplot as plt # Data varies in several Read More …

# Python code for generating plasmonic metal dielectric functions

I keep needing a python code to generate the dielectric functions of plasmonic materials such as Au, Ag, Pd, and Pt. I wanted the dielectric functions called by other python codes such as TMM. So I wrote a python version of LD.m LD.m is a matlab file written by Bora Ung that produces dielectric functions Read More …

# DDSCAT on amazon EC2

Amazon provides high performance computing capabilities through their EC2 service. You can find more information here They provide a 750 hr free instance with their a free-tier program. If you want more resources, you can pay for it. See the pricing, pricing seem very reasonable. I wanted to see how easy it was to install Read More …

# Plasmonic Materials in MEEP > 1.2

Here is how I was implementing plasmonic materials in meep1.1 scheme code. Unlike Meep 1. 1, Meep >= 1. 2 changed the way materials are defined. Here I will describe how to change the material definition code from meep1.1 to meep 1.2 . Please note that one can still use the material definition written from Read More …

# Doorbell with NRF24L01 and Arduino

My current apartment does not have a doorbell (Its strange but it is true). I went ahead and built a doorbell using two arduino pro-minis and two NRF24L01 transceivers. The melody to be played when a guest presses a button is controlled by me. I have four melodies programmed in. Here it is in full Read More …

# Airtel tune on arduino

For my doorbell project, I needed some melodies to be played on arduino. One can takes notes of a melody and write a corresponding arduino code. I like airtel tune and wanted to play it with arduino. I got the notes from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m5j5UIRqQc Here is the final result, where I use it in my doorbell project. Read More …

# Controlling Rigol Dp832 with python

DC power supplies are very handy for electronic projects. They help to apply bias to a devicve. Controlling it by a computer by a program is helpful in advanced projects where timing and accurate control is an issue. I got my hands on a RIGOL DP832 which is three channel (two 30V and one 5V) Read More …

# Hacking Weighing Scale to Upload Weight to Plotly using Raspberry Pi

I have been interested in monitoring and keep track of my weight. In the past, I have used phone apps for this purpose, works OK but I was thinking of reading weight information using some microcontroller from my weighing scale and upload the data to an online database. That means that microcontroller should connect to Read More …

# Controlling Newport 1918 Power Meter with Python

Optical power meters in-conjunction with a detector are used to measure power from a laser source or monochromatic output. At work, we use Newport 1918 power meter. This power meter comes with its own software. However, I was interested in controlling this instrument with python. I made a class for this instrument . If you are Read More …