Transparent metal oxide thin films of samarium oxide (Sm$_2$O$_3$) were prepared on pre-cleaned fused optically flat quartz substrates by radio-frequency (RF) sputtering technique. The as-deposited thin films were annealed at different temperatures (873, 973 and 1073 K) for 4 h in air under normal atmospheric pressure. The topological morphology of the film surface was characterized by using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The optical properties of the as-prepared and annealed thin films were studied using their reflectance and transmittance spectra at nearly normal incident light. The estimated direct optical band gap energy (E$^{d}_{g}$ ) values were found to increase by increasing the annealing temperatures. The dispersion curves of the refractive index of Sm$_2$O$_3$ thin films were found to obey the single oscillator model.

Structural, optical, electrical conductivity and dielectric relaxation properties of bulk 4-amino-3-mercapto-6-(2-(2-thienyl)vinyl)-1,2,4-triazin-5(4H)-one donor (AMT) are studied. The structure of AMT in its powder form was analysed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and atomic forcemicroscopy (AFM). AC measurements (impedance, capacitance and phase angle) are done over the temperature range 303–373 K and in the frequency range from 42 Hz to 5 MHz. Analytical approaches for the experimentalresults of the $\sigma_{AC}(\omega,T)$ and the temperature behaviour of the frequency exponent show that the correlated barrier hopping (CBH) model is a good model to explain the AC electrical conductivity of bulk AMT organic semiconductor material. Application of the dielectric modulus formulism gives a simple method for evaluating the activation energy of the dielectric relaxation. The activation energy from the DC conductivity and the relaxation time are quite similar suggesting a hopping mechanism for AMT. The optical band gap of AMT is investigated using spectrophotometric measurement of transmittance at normal incidence of light in the wavelength range 300–1100 nm.