Visualization of Refractive Index and Reflectance of Sodium Metal Based on Drude's Theory Using MATLAB as an Alternative for Optics and Astrophysics Lectures

This study aims to simply examine the relationship between optics and astrophysics by visualizing the refractive index and reflectance of sodium metal based on Drude's theory using MATLAB. Sodium metal is used in this study because it is an alkaline metal found on Earth which is a life-supporting element. MATLAB is used to visualize the refractive index and reflectance of sodium metal based on Drude's theory because it is one of the software that is often used by students in supporting optics and astrophysics courses. This research presents a simple way for students to visualize the refractive index and reflectance of sodium metal based on Drude's theory with the help of MATLAB. Visualization of the refractive index and reflectance of sodium metal based on Drude's theory begins by describing the equations of the refractive index and reflectance based on Drude's theory. We realized the visualization of these equations in graphical form with the help of MATLAB. In this study, students were able to visualize the refractive index and reflectance of sodium metal based on Drude's theory using MATLAB by varying the frequency of sodium plasma and sodium attenuation frequency.