ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Franz–Keldysh effect

Okay kiddo, have you ever looked at the sky and thought "wow, it's blue!"? That's because of something called "scattering". You know how when you bounce a ball, it sometimes changes direction? Well, that's kind of what happens to sunlight when it hits Earth's atmosphere. The air molecules scatter the sunlight in all different directions, but they scatter blue light more than other colors of light. That's why the sky looks blue!

Now, let's talk about the Franz-Keldysh Effect. This is a fancy way of saying that the color of light can change when it passes through certain materials. Kind of like how your skin looks different colors under different lights (like if you stand under a streetlight or a flashlight).

The Franz-Keldysh Effect happens when light passes through a special type of material called a "semiconductor". Semiconductors are like a cross between a metal and an insulator (the stuff that doesn't let electricity pass through it). When light shines on a semiconductor, it can make the electrons (tiny particles that make up atoms) move around. And when those electrons move around, they can change the color of the light that's passing through!

So, imagine if you had a blue light shining on a semiconductor and the electrons start wiggling around. Depending on how much they wiggle, the blue light might turn into green light! Or maybe even red light! It's kind of like a magic trick - you start with one color and end up with a completely different color!

Scientists use the Franz-Keldysh Effect to do all sorts of cool things, like make special filters that only let certain colors of light pass through. And maybe one day, they'll even use it to create some really amazing inventions that we can't even imagine yet! Who knows, maybe YOU will be the one to discover something amazing using the Franz-Keldysh Effect!