Optical constants

Refractive index of Au (Gold)

Werner et al. 2009: DFT calculations; n,k 0.0176–2.48 µm

Data
tabulated nk
Range
0.01759–2.48 µm
Points
150
Licence
CC0-1.0

Plot

Click the plot to set the calculator wavelength.

At one wavelength

Range 0.01759–2.48 µm
Refractive index n
1.10022
Extinction coefficient k
2.53569
Permittivity ε1
-5.21921
Permittivity ε2
5.57963
Absorption coefficient α
542280 cm⁻¹
Penetration depth δ = λ/(2πk)
36.8813 nm
Abbe number Vd
—
Chromatic dispersion dn/dλ
-8.67305 µm⁻¹
Group index ng
6.19651
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): Werner et al. 2009: DFT calculations; n,k 0.0176–2.48 µm
au = ls.fetch_refractiveindex("main", "Au", "Werner-DFT", ref="c5c2f188e848453def5970e347399d653df2ffc2")
print(au.range_nm)  # (17.586, 2479.68) nm
eps = au.eps([633])  # complex permittivity

Downloads the original record once (pinned to the imported snapshot) and caches it.

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

Theoretical density function theory (DFT) calculations.

References

W. S. M. Werner, K. Glantschnig, C. Ambrosch-Draxl. Optical constants and inelastic electron-scattering data for 17 elemental metals. J. Phys Chem Ref. Data 38, 1013-1092 (2009)
  • doi:10.1063/1.3243762 Optical Constants and Inelastic Electron-Scattering Data for 17 Elemental Metals, Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data (2009)

Cite

Wolfgang S. M. Werner, Kathrin Glantschnig and Claudia Ambrosch-Draxl. Optical Constants and Inelastic Electron-Scattering Data for 17 Elemental Metals. Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data, 38, 1013-1092 (2009), doi:10.1063/1.3243762; Data from the refractiveindex.info database (M. N. Polyanskiy, Sci. Data 11, 94 (2024), doi:10.1038/s41597-023-02898-2)

Data

150 rows as published
Au (Gold), Werner et al. 2009: DFT calculations; n,k 0.0176–2.48 µm: n and k versus wavelength
λ (µm)nk
0.0175860.82230.0961
0.0177120.8380.111
0.0178390.85120.0869
0.0179690.83580.0814
0.01810.82730.0919
0.0182330.8270.0998
0.0183680.83230.1081
0.0185050.84630.1063
0.0186440.8390.0948
0.0187850.83370.0948
0.0189290.83120.0944
0.0190740.82620.0932
0.0192220.82370.0917
0.0193730.81260.0911
0.0195250.80330.0965
0.019680.79670.1036
0.0198370.79650.1111
0.0199970.79090.1119
0.020160.78310.1194
0.0203250.77770.126
0.0204930.77120.1368
0.0206640.77260.1482
0.0208380.77310.1475
0.0210140.76180.1562
0.0211940.75510.1735
0.0213770.76420.1897
0.0215620.77060.192
0.0217520.76110.1905
0.0219440.74090.2213
0.022140.76240.265
0.0223390.84180.2619
0.0225430.81480.2277
0.0227490.80940.2409
0.022960.81660.2584
0.0231750.8410.2652
0.0233930.8730.2491
0.0236160.8910.1947
0.0238430.85710.1861
0.0240750.83390.1829
0.0243110.82870.1889
0.0245510.81430.1762
0.0247970.80170.1865
0.0250470.7980.1867
0.0253030.78190.188
0.0255640.76240.1849
0.025830.72920.2091
0.0261020.73630.237
0.026380.73010.241
0.0266630.73270.2586
0.0269530.71720.2691
0.0272490.70710.3033
0.0275520.72120.3258
0.0278620.73090.3366
0.0281780.75440.3592
0.0285020.750.3486
0.0288340.74460.376
0.0291730.78210.3894
0.029520.77860.3757
0.0298760.79550.3884
0.030240.80370.3795
0.0306130.80170.3474
0.0309960.77520.3631
0.0313880.76660.379
0.0317910.75930.3931
0.0322040.77320.4048
0.0326270.74240.4088
0.0330620.75010.4719
0.0335090.77890.475
0.0339680.7940.4842
0.034440.80780.4717
0.0349250.81490.4859
0.0354240.81650.4611
0.0359370.80560.4711
0.0364660.79080.4673
0.037010.77270.5177
0.0375710.8140.5086
0.0381490.77440.4926
0.0387450.74790.5295
0.039360.72730.563
0.0399950.70270.6155
0.0406510.70440.7198
0.0413280.80.7906
0.0420290.90760.7966
0.0427530.94990.7559
0.0435030.98690.7817
0.044281.07440.7512
0.0450851.12760.6137
0.045921.03530.5375
0.0467860.94310.5472
0.0476860.94740.6128
0.0486210.91450.5927
0.0495940.88590.6236
0.0506060.88990.6473
0.051660.84320.6481
0.0527590.7630.7281
0.0539060.79550.8378
0.0551040.8240.9181
0.0563560.84331.0021
0.0576670.94381.104
0.059041.06491.1747
0.060481.20521.1164
0.0619921.23231.0529
0.0635821.46591.1068
0.0652551.47080.9692
0.0670181.46270.898
0.068881.42540.6949
0.0708481.32840.7069
0.0729321.2830.7233
0.0751421.25090.7654
0.077491.26210.7975
0.079991.24910.8014
0.0826561.2310.8327
0.0855061.23130.8759
0.088561.24880.9217
0.091841.28470.9652
0.0953721.37090.9713
0.0991871.33860.9032
0.103321.34840.9748
0.1078121.35860.9054
0.1127131.26950.9496
0.118081.26191.0032
0.1239841.21281.1193
0.130511.24931.2671
0.137761.36181.3717
0.1458641.46881.4001
0.154981.50391.4788
0.1653121.74861.4818
0.177121.7431.4714
0.1907451.93311.3582
0.206641.7291.2678
0.2254261.67181.4021
0.2479681.66761.474
0.2610191.59971.5521
0.275521.57921.6873
0.2917281.61151.8399
0.309961.71261.9514
0.3306251.78262.0094
0.3542411.84442.0676
0.381491.8922.0938
0.4132811.8572.1072
0.4508521.79332.1932
0.4959371.69362.2562
0.5510411.41732.3358
0.6199210.81992.7124
0.7084810.43913.6965
0.8265610.33474.8406
0.9918740.34766.2609
1.2398420.48278.2091
1.6531230.810111.2635
2.4796841.751817.1066

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
—