Optical constants

Refractive index of Au (Gold)

Johnson and Christy 1972: n,k 0.188–1.937 µm

Data
tabulated nk
Range
0.1879–1.937 µm
Points
49
Licence
CC0-1.0
Lightsmith
bundled, default

Plot

Click the plot to set the calculator wavelength.

At one wavelength

Range 0.1879–1.937 µm
Refractive index n
0.27732
Extinction coefficient k
2.92783
Permittivity ε1
-8.49527
Permittivity ε2
1.62389
Absorption coefficient α
626143 cm⁻¹
Penetration depth δ = λ/(2πk)
31.9416 nm
Abbe number Vd
—
Chromatic dispersion dn/dλ
-2.30548 µm⁻¹
Group index ng
1.63202
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

# Au (Gold): Johnson and Christy 1972: n,k 0.188–1.937 µm
au = ls.LibraryMaterial(name="Au", dataset="Johnson-Christy")
print(au.range_nm)  # (187.9, 1937) nm
eps = au.eps([633])  # complex permittivity

Ships with the library: works offline and is the library's own default dataset choice.

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

Room temperature

References

P. B. Johnson and R. W. Christy. Optical constants of the noble metals. Phys. Rev. B 6, 4370-4379 (1972)

Cite

P. B. Johnson and R. W. Christy. Optical Constants of the Noble Metals. Physical Review B, 6, 4370-4379 (1972), doi:10.1103/physrevb.6.4370; Data from the refractiveindex.info database (M. N. Polyanskiy, Sci. Data 11, 94 (2024), doi:10.1038/s41597-023-02898-2)

Data

49 rows as published
Au (Gold), Johnson and Christy 1972: n,k 0.188–1.937 µm: n and k versus wavelength
λ (µm)nk
0.18791.281.188
0.19161.321.203
0.19531.341.226
0.19931.331.251
0.20331.331.277
0.20731.31.304
0.21191.31.35
0.21641.31.387
0.22141.31.427
0.22621.311.46
0.23131.31.497
0.23711.321.536
0.24261.321.577
0.2491.331.631
0.25511.331.688
0.26161.351.749
0.26891.381.803
0.27611.431.847
0.28441.471.869
0.29241.491.878
0.30091.531.889
0.31071.531.893
0.32041.541.898
0.33151.481.883
0.34251.481.871
0.35421.51.866
0.36791.481.895
0.38151.461.933
0.39741.471.952
0.41331.461.958
0.43051.451.948
0.45091.381.914
0.47141.311.849
0.49591.041.833
0.52090.622.081
0.54860.432.455
0.58210.292.863
0.61680.213.272
0.65950.143.697
0.70450.134.103
0.7560.144.542
0.82110.165.083
0.8920.175.663
0.9840.226.35
1.0880.277.15
1.2160.358.145
1.3930.439.519
1.610.5611.21
1.9370.9213.78

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
—