List of refractive indices explained

Many materials have a well-characterized refractive index, but these indices often depend strongly upon the frequency of light, causing optical dispersion. Standard refractive index measurements are taken at the "yellow doublet" sodium D line, with a wavelength (λ) of 589 nanometers.

There are also weaker dependencies on temperature, pressure/stress, etc., as well on precise material compositions (presence of dopants, etc.); for many materials and typical conditions, however, these variations are at the percent level or less. Thus, it's especially important to cite the source for an index measurement if precision is required.

k

. Such losses become particularly significant, for example, in metals at short (e.g. visible) wavelengths, and must be included in any description of the refractive index.

List

Some representative refractive indices
Name of materialλ (nm)data-sort-type=numberRefractive index no. nReference
Vacuum1 (by definition)
Air at STP1.000273
Gases at 0 °C and 1 atm
Air589.291.000293[1]
Carbon dioxide589.291.00045[2] [3] [4]
Helium589.291.000036
Hydrogen589.291.000132
Liquids at 20 °C
Arsenic trisulfide and sulfur in methylene iodide1.9[5]
Carbon disulfide589.291.628
Benzene589.291.501
Carbon tetrachloride589.291.461
Silicone oil (nD)589.291.393–1.403[6]
Kerosene1.39
Ethanol (ethyl alcohol)589.291.361
Acetone1.36
Water589.291.333
10% glucose solution in water589.291.3477[7]
20% glucose solution in water589.291.3635
60% glucose solution in water589.291.4394
Solids at room temperature
Silicon carbide (moissanite; 6H form)589.292.65[8]
Titanium dioxide (rutile phase)589.292.614[9] [10]
Diamond589.292.417
Strontium titanate589.292.41[11]
Tantalum pentoxide589.292.15[12]
Amber589.291.55
Sodium chloride589.291.544[13]
Fused silica (a pure form of glass, also called fused quartz)589.291.458[14]
Other materials
Liquid helium1.025
Perfluorohexane (Fluorinert FC-72)1.251[15]
Water ice1.31
TFE/PDD (Teflon AF)1.315[16] [17]
Cryolite1.338
Cytop1.34[18]
Polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon)1.35–1.38[19]
Sugar solution, 25%1.3723[20]
Cornea (human)1.373/1.380/1.401 [21]
Lens (human)1.386–1.406
Liver (human)9641.369[22]
Intestinal mucosa (human)9641.329–1.338[23]
Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE)1.403[24]
Sylgard 184 (polydimethylsiloxane)1.4118[25]
Sugar solution, 50%1.4200
Polylactic acid1.46[26]
Pyrex (a borosilicate glass)1.470[27]
Vegetable oil1.47[28]
Glycerol1.4729
Sugar solution, 75%1.4774
Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)1.4893–1.4899
Halite (rock salt)1.516
Plate glass (window glass)1.52[29]
Crown glass (pure)1.50–1.54
PETg1.57
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)1.5750
Polycarbonate150 1.60[30]
Crown glass (impure)1.485–1.755
Flint glass (pure)1.60–1.62
Bromine1.661
Flint glass (impure)1.523–1.925
Sapphire1.762–1.778
2–2.14[31]
Cubic zirconia2.15–2.18[32]
Potassium niobate (KNbO3)2.28
Zinc oxide3902.4
Cinnabar (mercury sulfide)3.02Birefringent: nω = 2.905 nε = 3.256[33]
1200 - 8500 3.42–3.48[34]
Gallium(III) phosphide3.5
Gallium(III) arsenide3.927
Germanium3000 - 16000 4.05–4.1[35]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Alfred . Zajac . Hecht . Eugene . Optics, Fourth Edit. Pearson Higher Education . 18 March 2003 . 978-0-321-18878-6.
  2. Book: Morgan, Joseph . Introduction to Geometrical and Physical Optics . registration . McGraw-Hill Book Company, INC. . 1953.
  3. Book: Hodgman, Charles D. . Handbook of Chemistry and Physics . registration . Chemical Rubber Publishing Co. . 1957.
  4. Book: Frank L. . Pedrotti . Leno M. . Pedrotti . Leno S. . Pedrotti . Introduction to Optics, Third Edition . Pearson Prentice Hall . 221 . 2007 . 978-0-13-149933-1 .
  5. http://www.minsocam.org/ammin/AM40/AM40_398.pdf Meyrowitz, R, A compilation and classification of immersion media of high index of refraction, American Mineralogist 40: 398 (1955)
  6. Web site: Silicone Fluids: Stable and Inert Media . Gelest, Inc . 1998 .
  7. Book: 82nd . Lide . David R. Lide . CRC Handbook of Physics and Chemistry . The Chemical Rubber Company . Cleveland, OH . 2001 . 978-0-8493-0482-8.
  8. Web site: Silicon Carbide (SiC) - Optical properties. Ioffe Institute. 2009-06-06.
  9. Web site: Polyanskiy . Mikhail N. . Optical constants of TiO2 (Titanium dioxide) . Refractive Index Database .
  10. Shannon . Robert D. . Shannon . Ruth C. . Medenbach . Olaf . Fischer . Reinhard X. . 25 October 2002 . Refractive Index and Dispersion of Fluorides and Oxides . J. Phys. Chem. Ref. Data . 31 . 4 . 931–970 . 2002JPCRD..31..931S . 10.1063/1.1497384.
  11. Optical properties and electronic structure of oxidized and reduced single-crystal strontium titanate. Frye. Asa. 2003. Zeitschrift für Metallkunde. 94. 3. 226. 11 July 2014. 10.3139/146.030226. French. R. H.. Bonnell. D. A.. 11729057 . Dawn Bonnell.
  12. Optical constants of Ta2O5 (Tantalum pentoxide). Polyanskiy. Mikhail . 2018. Refractive Index Database.
  13. Book: Raymond A. . Serway . Faughn . Jerry S. . College Physics, 6th Edition . Brooks/Cole . 692 . 2003 . 978-0-03-035114-3.
  14. Optical properties and London dispersion interaction of amorphous and crystalline determined by vacuum ultraviolet spectroscopy and spectroscopic ellipsometry. Tan. G. 2005. Physical Review B. 72. 20. 205117. 11 July 2014. 10.1103/PhysRevB.72.205117. Lemon. M.. Jones. D.. French. R.. 2005PhRvB..72t5117T .
  15. Web site: Fluorinert Electronic Liquid FC-72 Product Information . 2017-05-01.
  16. Web site: Teflon AF . 2010-10-14.
  17. Optical properties of Teflon® amorphous fluoropolymers. Yang. Min K.. July 2008. Journal of Micro/Nano Lithography. 7. 3. 033010. 11 July 2014. 10.1117/1.2965541.
  18. Web site: CYTOP Amorphous Fluoropolymer . AGCCE Chemicals Europe, Ltd. . 2010-10-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100824120507/http://www.agcce.eu.com/CYTOP/TechInfo.asp . 24 August 2010 .
  19. Book: 2009 34th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC) . French. Roger H.. 2009. 000394–000399. 11 July 2014. 10.1109/PVSC.2009.5411657. Rodriguez-Parada. J. M.. Yang. M. K.. Derryberry. R. A.. Lemon. M. F.. Brown. M. J.. Haeger. C. R.. Samuels. S. L.. Romano. E. C.. Richardson. R. E.. Optical properties of materials for concentrator photovoltaic systems . 978-1-4244-2949-3 . 14598733 . 3.
  20. Web site: Manual for Sugar Solution Prism . 2012-03-21 . 2005-08-03 . A/S S. Frederiksen . https://web.archive.org/web/20160303211159/http://www.frederiksen.eu/fileadmin/user_upload/PDF/Export_Manuals/545920_AE_sugarsolution.pdf . 3 March 2016 .
  21. Patel . S . Marshall . J . Fitzke . FW 3rd. . Refractive index of the human corneal epithelium and stroma . J Refract Surg. . 11 . 2 . 100–105 . Mar–Apr 1995 . 10.3928/1081-597X-19950301-09 . 7634138 .
  22. Giannios . P . et . al . Visible to near-infrared refractive properties of freshly-excised human-liver tissues: marking hepatic malignancies . Sci. Rep. . 6 . 27910 . 10.1038/srep27910 . 27297034 . 4906272 . 2016 . 2016NatSR...627910G .
  23. Giannios . P . et . al . Complex refractive index of normal and malignant human colorectal tissue . J. Biophotonics . 10.1002/jbio.201600001 . 27091794 . 2016 . 10 . 2 . 303–310. 9636490 .
  24. A review of solid–fluid selection options for optical-based measurements in single-phase liquid, two-phase liquid–liquid and multiphase solid–liquid flows. Wright, S.F. . Zadrazil, I. . Markides, C.N. . Experiments in Fluids . 2017. 58 . 9. 108. 2017ExFl...58..108W. 10.1007/s00348-017-2386-y. free. 10044/1/49407. free.
  25. Web site: 184 Silicone Elastomer . Dow Corning . Product Information . 2012-12-11 .
  26. Book: Poly(Lactic Acid): Synthesis, Structures, Properties, Processing, and Applications; Chapter 8: Optical Properties. 97. 10.1002/9780470649848.ch8. Optical Properties. 2010. Gonçalves. Carla M. B.. Coutinho. Joa˜o A. P.. Marrucho. Isabel M.. 978-0-470-64984-8.
  27. Web site: Absolute Refractive Index . Materials Teaching Educational Resources . MATTER Project . 2007-10-18 . University of Liverpool . https://web.archive.org/web/20071012161040/http://matter.org.uk/schools/Content/Refraction/absolute.html . 12 October 2007 . University of Liverpool .
  28. https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2006/TingTingLuo.shtml Index Of Refraction Of Vegetable Oil
  29. "High temperature glass melt property database for process modeling"; Eds.: Thomas P. Seward III and Terese Vascott; The American Ceramic Society, Westerville, Ohio, 2005,
  30. C. R. Garcia, J. Correa, D. Espalin, J. H. Barton, R. C. Rumpf, R. Wicker, V. Gonzalez, "3D Printing of Anisotropic Metamaterials," PIER Lett, Vol. 34, pp. 75–82, 2012.
  31. Web site: Combat Boron Nitride . Saint Gobain . 2016-06-12 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150218230636/http://www.bn.saint-gobain.com/uploadedFiles/SGbn/Documents/Solids/Combat-Solids-DS1.pdf . 18 February 2015 .
  32. Experimental and theoretical determination of the electronic structure and optical properties of three phases of . French. Roger H.. 1994. Physical Review B. 49. 8. 5133–5142. 11 July 2014. 10.1103/PhysRevB.49.5133. Glass. S.. Ohuchi. F.. Xu. Y.. Ching. W. . 10011463. 3. 1994PhRvB..49.5133F .
  33. Web site: Table of Refractive Indices and Double Refraction of Selected Gems - IGS. International Gem Society. en. 2020-01-22.
  34. Web site: Silicon . Pmoptics.com . 2014-08-21.
  35. Web site: Germanium . Pmoptics.com . 2014-08-21.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "List of refractive indices".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.