LDR - Light Dependent Resistor-5mm

An LDR is a component that has a (variable) resistance that changes with the light intensity that falls upon it. This allows them to be used in light sensing circuits.

 A Light Dependent Resistor (LDR) is also called a photoresistor or a cadmium sulfide (CdS) cell. It is also called a photoconductor.

Working Principle of LDR

A light dependent resistor works on the principle of photo conductivity. Photo conductivity is an optical phenomenon in which the materials conductivity is increased when light is absorbed by the material. When light falls i.e. when the photons fall on the device, the electrons in the valence band of the semiconductor material are excited to the conduction band. These photons in the incident light should have energy greater than the band gap of the semiconductor material to make the electrons jump from the valence band to the conduction band. Hence when light having enough energy strikes on the device, more and more electrons are excited to the conduction band which results in large number of charge carriers. The result of this process is more and more current starts flowing through the device when the circuit is closed and hence it is said that the resisitance of the device has been decreased. This is the most common working principle of LDR.