Optical constants
Refractive index of Ar (Argon)
Sinnock and Smith 1969: Solid at 60 K; n 0.361–0.644 µm
- Data
- tabulated n
- Range
- 0.3612–0.6439 µm
- Points
- 9
- Temperature
- 60 K
- State
- solid
- Licence
- CC0-1.0
Plot
Click the plot to set the calculator wavelength.
At one wavelength
- Refractive index n
- 1.27937
- Extinction coefficient k
- 0
- Permittivity ε1
- 1.63678
- Permittivity ε2
- 0
- Absorption coefficient α
- 0 cm⁻¹
- Penetration depth δ = λ/(2πk)
- — nm
- Abbe number Vd
- —
- Chromatic dispersion dn/dλ
- -0.0136571 µm⁻¹
- Group index ng
- 1.28739
- 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
# Ar (Argon): Sinnock and Smith 1969: Solid at 60 K; n 0.361–0.644 µm
ar = ls.fetch_refractiveindex("main", "Ar", "Sinnock-solid-60K", ref="c5c2f188e848453def5970e347399d653df2ffc2")
print(ar.range_nm) # (361.2, 643.9) nm
eps = ar.eps([633]) # complex permittivity
Downloads the original record once (pinned to the imported snapshot) and caches it.
import json, urllib.request
import lightsmith as ls
url = "https://materials.lightsmith.dev/v1/datasets/ds_7c8ece023ca6/lightsmith"
ar = ls.Tabulated.model_validate(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(url)))
print(ar.source) # citation and provenance travel with the data
Any dataset here, as the library's Tabulated material (ar/sinnock-smith-1969-solid-60k).
# ... load ar as above, then:
sim = ls.Simulation(
particles=[ls.Particle(shape=ls.Sphere(radius_nm=50), material=ar)],
medium_index=1.0,
wavelengths=ls.WavelengthRange(start_nm=400, stop_nm=643, num=81),
)
res = ls.solve(sim) # exact Mie for a sphere
print(res.q_ext) # extinction efficiency at each wavelength
Same spec runs with DDA, FDTD, BEM or T-matrix: ls.compare(sim, ["mie", "dda"]).
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
Conditions
- temperature
- 60 K
References
- doi:10.1103/physrev.181.1297 Refractive Indices of the Condensed Inert Gases, Physical Review (1969)
Cite
A. C. Sinnock and B. L. Smith. Refractive Indices of the Condensed Inert Gases. Physical Review, 181, 1297-1307 (1969), doi:10.1103/physrev.181.1297; Data from the refractiveindex.info database (M. N. Polyanskiy, Sci. Data 11, 94 (2024), doi:10.1038/s41597-023-02898-2)
Data
9 rows as published| λ (µm) | n |
|---|---|
| 0.3612 | 1.2866 |
| 0.365 | 1.2863 |
| 0.4063 | 1.2841 |
| 0.4358 | 1.2829 |
| 0.4753 | 1.2817 |
| 0.5086 | 1.2809 |
| 0.5461 | 1.2801 |
| 0.578 | 1.2795 |
| 0.6439 | 1.2786 |
Optical transmission calculator
Free-standing sample in vacuum, normal incidence- Transmittance T
- —
- Reflectance R
- —
Fresnel reflection calculator
- Rp
- —
- Rs
- —
- R = (Rp+Rs)/2
- —
- Phase φp
- —
- Phase φs
- —
- Brewster angle θB
- —
- Critical angle θC
- —
Solid argon at 60 K (-213.15 °C).