.. _base-material:

Material Base Class
=====================

This is the base class for all other specific material models.

.. contents::
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Overview
--------

The :class:`Material <pyOptiShared.Material.Material>` class provides an abstract interface for all material models 
used in the electromagnetic solvers. It defines the structure that all 
material classes must follow, including initialization and permittivity evaluation 
over specified wavelengths.

This class should be subclassed to create specific material models. At a minimum, subclasses must override:

- ``__init__`` to initialize material-specific parameters.
- ``eps(wavelengths)`` to return the material permittivity at given wavelengths.
- ``index(wavelengths)`` to return the material refractive index at given wavelengths.


Examples
----------

To define a custom material model, inherit from :class:`Material <pyOptiShared.Material.Material>` and implement 
the required methods.

Creating a Custom Material Object
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This examples shows how to create a custom material object and override
the ``__init__``, ``eps()`` and ``index()`` methods.

.. code-block:: python

   from pyOptiShared.Material import Material
   import numpy as np

   class CustomMaterial(Material):
        def __init__(self, n):
        super.__init__()
        self.n = n  # Refractive index

        def eps(self, wavelengths):
            # Return constant permittivity for all wavelengths
            return np.full_like(wavelengths, self.n**2, dtype=np.complex64)

        def index(self, wavelengths):
            # Return constant permittivity for all wavelengths
            return np.full_like(wavelengths, self.n, dtype=np.complex64)