Optical constants

Refractive index of Ag (Silver)

McPeak et al. 2015: n,k 0.3–1.7 µm

Data
tabulated nk
Range
0.3–1.7 µm
Points
141
Licence
CC0-1.0
Lightsmith
bundled

Plot

Click the plot to set the calculator wavelength.

At one wavelength

Range 0.3–1.7 µm
Refractive index n
0.0468354
Extinction coefficient k
3.93641
Permittivity ε1
-15.4932
Permittivity ε2
0.368727
Absorption coefficient α
841838 cm⁻¹
Penetration depth δ = λ/(2πk)
23.7575 nm
Abbe number Vd
—
Chromatic dispersion dn/dλ
0.0020399 µm⁻¹
Group index ng
0.0456368
Group velocity dispersion
— fs²/mm
Dispersion parameter D
— ps/(nm·km)
Photon energy
2.11001 eV

ε = (n + ik)², α = 4πk/λ, ng = n − λ dn/dλ, GVD = λ³/(2πc²) d²n/dλ², D = −(λ/c) d²n/dλ². Group-velocity dispersion is given for formula data only.

Use it in Lightsmith

Load this data in Python, simulate in one more line

pip install lightsmith
import lightsmith as ls

# Ag (Silver): McPeak et al. 2015: n,k 0.3–1.7 µm
ag = ls.LibraryMaterial(name="Ag", dataset="McPeak")
print(ag.range_nm)  # (300, 1700) nm
eps = ag.eps([633])  # complex permittivity

Ships with the library: works offline.

Lightsmith is open source (MIT): Mie, T-matrix, BEM, DDA, FDTD, RCWA, TMM, mode solvers and inverse design behind one spec, on CPU or GPU. GitHub.

Comments and conditions

Thermally evaporated Ag at 50 Å/s with base pressure of 3e-8 Torr, template stripped from Si wafer

References

K. M. McPeak, S. V. Jayanti, S. J. P. Kress, S. Meyer, S. Iotti, A. Rossinelli, D. J. Norris. Plasmonic films can easily be better: Rules and recipes. ACS Photonics 2, 326-333 (2015)

Cite

Kevin M. McPeak et al.. Plasmonic Films Can Easily Be Better: Rules and Recipes. ACS Photonics, 2, 326-333 (2015), doi:10.1021/ph5004237; Data from the refractiveindex.info database (M. N. Polyanskiy, Sci. Data 11, 94 (2024), doi:10.1038/s41597-023-02898-2)

Data

141 rows as published
Ag (Silver), McPeak et al. 2015: n,k 0.3–1.7 µm: n and k versus wavelength
λ (µm)nk
0.31.6468572860.972336834
0.311.4556296990.572501372
0.320.9200586280.331538655
0.330.2337979960.585441289
0.340.1038931241.052042671
0.350.075998581.326866905
0.360.0631800031.533000885
0.370.0562792421.708000982
0.380.0507524061.858729622
0.390.0486604151.99546181
0.40.045728952.122943979
0.410.044519522.241825593
0.420.0432873762.357153749
0.430.0419926562.465312026
0.440.0411014912.573264334
0.450.0409323422.675756988
0.460.0409567362.776954709
0.470.0407272242.873753418
0.480.0407814932.972181544
0.490.0412495893.066333564
0.50.0413733553.159400537
0.510.0416026863.251112238
0.520.042372753.342124392
0.530.0422042113.433188197
0.540.0434032863.522198723
0.550.0438171813.610113564
0.560.0445074293.69702325
0.570.0459733873.783928323
0.580.0468198943.870683674
0.590.0468402933.95716995
0.60.0474104474.041936139
0.610.0489857054.126305805
0.620.0496177934.208973975
0.630.0511019014.293088795
0.640.0516469324.376833034
0.650.050913374.460223332
0.660.0533885354.543110205
0.670.0524751044.623716431
0.680.0542186274.705947265
0.690.0544292314.788419629
0.70.0548603864.869087149
0.710.0565385964.950777375
0.720.0574012335.034212441
0.730.0577334585.113152956
0.740.0596294015.195339803
0.750.0601136035.274430173
0.760.0590471935.356816832
0.770.0638242075.436181889
0.780.0634646865.512987191
0.790.0622174895.598827647
0.80.0639507025.678123783
0.810.0674733565.753307975
0.820.0676361345.836229489
0.830.0681895615.911315405
0.840.0674751075.99554442
0.850.0701357066.076505494
0.860.0705032346.15532052
0.870.0724552336.235643492
0.880.0739436226.313593878
0.890.0749279466.38980549
0.90.0747935976.469203512
0.910.0776468056.547597195
0.920.078779586.627986589
0.930.0801064936.706073147
0.940.0800397526.784129005
0.950.0810986186.865098469
0.960.0839639456.942265476
0.970.0823276657.024370281
0.980.085322867.10009014
0.990.0877792377.177095875
1.00.0880254287.254153877
1.010.0905019377.335202151
1.020.0912230057.410959562
1.030.0931636417.488436383
1.040.0909780097.571609934
1.050.0930693087.647526521
1.060.0874881087.738194503
1.070.0900856927.812561387
1.080.0914149117.896414166
1.090.089521867.969003336
1.10.0876251158.055909518
1.110.0904610378.13167776
1.120.0945282988.207066199
1.130.0927495018.287376091
1.140.0954510778.352970185
1.150.0843599338.445952676
1.160.0958782888.521220138
1.170.0970532658.593219381
1.180.094932938.675598669
1.190.0983244528.74909525
1.20.0948814478.829439534
1.210.0982162988.901272181
1.220.0987726738.982747689
1.230.0952856019.065378059
1.240.103767069.1406656
1.250.1001724899.224588583
1.260.1050907269.306720371
1.270.1035139269.373618039
1.280.1066449819.450046198
1.290.1076427659.532921219
1.30.1126691759.60555539
1.310.1152745639.681233817
1.320.1100707699.760538693
1.330.1137255729.83991532
1.340.1107964419.919993743
1.350.1151270879.983749508
1.360.12169279710.07495951
1.370.12000073710.1436877
1.380.12776184210.21157789
1.390.12739140110.30564062
1.40.12956733810.37144097
1.410.12953261410.45450997
1.420.13942597210.54179489
1.430.13668908210.61313733
1.440.133767610.69616257
1.450.1375343310.76749347
1.460.13600244910.84612819
1.470.14001899610.9453006
1.480.14568379510.99641868
1.490.14302982511.08649889
1.50.14067182411.16108366
1.510.14685133511.21746697
1.520.14557446811.30314965
1.530.15111765311.41064575
1.540.15998950811.45450115
1.550.15648887111.56695676
1.560.16306172811.59683531
1.570.14628023411.70390524
1.580.16084665511.76120196
1.590.16028913511.85857043
1.60.17969672911.89337172
1.610.17752857712.00172973
1.620.1744485712.10786655
1.630.18025687112.14794191
1.640.18583402612.23538043
1.650.1845280712.29243876
1.660.19688298112.38502172
1.670.17522297212.45755606
1.680.19431517212.56772686
1.690.2055368412.63496123
1.70.19853159212.70351978

Optical transmission calculator

Free-standing sample in vacuum, normal incidence
Method
Transmittance T
—
Reflectance R
—

Fresnel reflection calculator

Direction
Rp
—
Rs
—
R = (Rp+Rs)/2
—
Phase φp
—
Phase φs
—
Brewster angle θB
—
Critical angle θC
—