Title: fundamental absorption Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - fundamental absorption DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.14016 Status: current Definition Absorption of ultraviolet, visible, or infrared radiation in semiconductors and insulators inducing optical transitions of electrons originating exclusively from the valence band to the conduction band to yield free electron-hole pairs and/or exciton absorption bands. Related Term - extrinsic absorption: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/14010 Source - PAC, 2011, 83, 931. 'Glossary of terms used in photocatalysis and radiation catalysis (IUPAC Recommendations 2011)' on page 954 (https://doi.org/10.1351/PAC-REC-09-09-36) Other Outputs - html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/14016/html - json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/14016/json - xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/14016/xml Citation: Citation: 'fundamental absorption' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.14016 License: The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms. Collection: If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org . Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using. Accessed: 2026-06-29T14:56:11+00:00