Optical constants

Refractive index of C₄H₉OH (Butanol)

Wang et al. 2018: n-Butanol, 20 °C; n,k 1.66–19.1 µm

Data: tabulated nk
Range: 1.66–19.06 µm
Points: 488
Temperature: 293 K
Licence: CC0-1.0

Axis Log x Log y

Click the plot to set the calculator wavelength.

At one wavelength

Refractive index n: 1.37792
Extinction coefficient k: 0.0013236

Permittivity ε₁: 1.89867
Permittivity ε₂: 0.00364764

Absorption coefficient α: 29.5958 cm⁻¹
Penetration depth δ = λ/(2πk): 675771 nm

Abbe number V_d: —
Chromatic dispersion dn/dλ: 0.0492 µm⁻¹

Group index n_g: 1.10142
Group velocity dispersion: — fs²/mm

Dispersion parameter D: — ps/(nm·km)
Photon energy: 0.220612 eV

ε = (n + ik)², α = 4πk/λ, n_g = 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

# C4H9OH (Butanol): Wang et al. 2018: n-Butanol, 20 °C; n,k 1.66–19.1 µm
c4h9oh = ls.fetch_refractiveindex("organic", "butanol", "Wang-20C", ref="c5c2f188e848453def5970e347399d653df2ffc2")
print(c4h9oh.range_nm)  # (1660, 19060) nm
eps = c4h9oh.eps([5620])  # 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_7b9080fbf53c/lightsmith"
c4h9oh = ls.Tabulated.model_validate(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(url)))
print(c4h9oh.source)  # citation and provenance travel with the data

Any dataset here, as the library's Tabulated material (butanol/wang-2018-20c).

# ... load c4h9oh as above, then:
sim = ls.Simulation(
    particles=[ls.Particle(shape=ls.Sphere(radius_nm=50), material=c4h9oh)],
    medium_index=1.0,
    wavelengths=ls.WavelengthRange(start_nm=1660, stop_nm=19060, 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"]).

Materials guide Open a sphere of it in Studio Quick start Ask the community

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

n-butanol, 20 °C.

Conditions

temperature: 293 K

References

C. C. Wang, J. Y. Tan, C. Y. Jing, L. H. Liu. Temperature-dependent optical constants of liquid isopropanol, n-butanol and n-decane. Appl. Opt. 57, 3303-3311 (2018) (Numerical data kindly provided by Chengchao Wang)

doi:10.1364/ao.57.003003 Temperature-dependent optical constants of liquid isopropanol, n-butanol, and n-decane, Applied Optics (2018)

Cite

C. C. Wang, J. Y. Tan, C. Y. Jing and L. H. Liu. Temperature-dependent optical constants of liquid isopropanol, n-butanol, and n-decane. Applied Optics, 57, 3003 (2018), doi:10.1364/ao.57.003003; Data from the refractiveindex.info database (M. N. Polyanskiy, Sci. Data 11, 94 (2024), doi:10.1038/s41597-023-02898-2)

Data

488 rows as published

CSV comma separated TXT tab separated YAML n, k Full database record original YAML All quantities CSV JSON metadata

C4H9OH (Butanol), Wang et al. 2018: n-Butanol, 20 °C; n,k 1.66–19.1 µm: n and k versus wavelength
λ (µm)	n	k
1.66	1.37687	3.0184e-05
1.668	1.38348	3.2151e-05
1.679	1.38602	4.1545e-05
1.69	1.38308	6.5839e-05
1.699	1.38431	8.9567e-05
1.708	1.38549	0.00010882
1.719	1.38654	0.00011401
1.728	1.38676	0.00010157
1.74	1.38672	9.1406e-05
1.749	1.38741	9.1793e-05
1.759	1.38878	8.5315e-05
1.768	1.38855	6.967e-05
1.778	1.38708	5.781e-05
1.788	1.38602	5.3457e-05
1.798	1.38469	4.9404e-05
1.808	1.38282	4.4641e-05
1.818	1.38138	4.2268e-05
1.828	1.38	3.8548e-05
1.839	1.37911	3.3131e-05
1.849	1.37913	2.7959e-05
1.86	1.37936	2.4563e-05
1.868	1.37967	2.3246e-05
1.879	1.3811	2.2973e-05
1.89	1.38325	2.1919e-05
1.898	1.38508	2.1792e-05
1.909	1.38531	2.4505e-05
1.917	1.38528	2.6564e-05
1.929	1.38498	2.634e-05
1.938	1.38416	2.5227e-05
1.949	1.38375	2.5291e-05
1.958	1.3832	2.6539e-05
1.97	1.38141	2.7474e-05
1.979	1.37937	2.7483e-05
1.988	1.37825	2.9123e-05
1.997	1.37862	3.4093e-05
2.01	1.37894	4.2585e-05
2.019	1.37915	5.0203e-05
2.029	1.37976	6.0581e-05
2.038	1.38023	7.4016e-05
2.048	1.38069	9.102e-05
2.058	1.38106	0.00010926
2.067	1.38074	0.00012623
2.077	1.37956	0.00014039
2.087	1.37801	0.00014855
2.097	1.37685	0.00014777
2.108	1.37611	0.00013988
2.118	1.37562	0.00012857
2.128	1.37548	0.00011689
2.139	1.37562	0.00010729
2.15	1.37582	9.8827e-05
2.157	1.37628	9.4132e-05
2.168	1.37707	8.8254e-05
2.179	1.37822	8.4527e-05
2.19	1.37899	8.3971e-05
2.197	1.37908	8.4586e-05
2.208	1.3786	8.6725e-05
2.22	1.37791	9.2042e-05
2.227	1.37725	9.9056e-05
2.239	1.37712	0.00012382
2.246	1.37727	0.00015822
2.258	1.37691	0.00025582
2.266	1.37608	0.00035401
2.278	1.37559	0.0005237
2.286	1.37613	0.00062969
2.298	1.3768	0.00074386
2.306	1.37671	0.00074927
2.319	1.37619	0.00066417
2.327	1.37585	0.0006108
2.34	1.37535	0.00056587
2.348	1.37501	0.00054179
2.357	1.37455	0.00051926
2.37	1.37416	0.0004985
2.378	1.37364	0.00049636
2.387	1.37349	0.00050719
2.396	1.37412	0.00051403
2.409	1.37482	0.00048165
2.418	1.37481	0.00045909
2.427	1.37458	0.00045663
2.437	1.37471	0.00048382
2.446	1.37534	0.00053969
2.46	1.37542	0.00057729
2.469	1.37497	0.00054268
2.478	1.37406	0.00050718
2.488	1.37307	0.0004931
2.498	1.37221	0.00049068
2.507	1.37172	0.0004694
2.517	1.37163	0.0004131
2.527	1.37159	0.00035222
2.537	1.37122	0.00031357
2.547	1.37088	0.0002973
2.557	1.37071	0.00029194
2.567	1.37099	0.00028783
2.577	1.37136	0.00028482
2.587	1.37186	0.00028875
2.598	1.37194	0.00029415
2.608	1.37173	0.00028838
2.619	1.37106	0.0002652
2.629	1.37023	0.00024348
2.64	1.36938	0.00023928
2.645	1.36876	0.00024244
2.656	1.36808	0.00024867
2.667	1.36751	0.00025032
2.678	1.36655	0.00025796
2.689	1.36576	0.0002818
2.695	1.36513	0.00029715
2.706	1.36491	0.00033018
2.717	1.36507	0.00037598
2.729	1.3647	0.00046374
2.735	1.364	0.00053644
2.746	1.36456	0.00074479
2.758	1.36207	0.000972
2.77	1.35957	0.00121
2.776	1.35855	0.00138
2.788	1.35555	0.00186
2.8	1.35126	0.00264
2.806	1.35042	0.00348
2.818	1.34799	0.00862
2.824	1.34802	0.00945
2.836	1.34655	0.01143
2.849	1.3468	0.01195
2.855	1.34716	0.01146
2.868	1.34544	0.01565
2.874	1.34467	0.01944
2.887	1.3419	0.02665
2.9	1.33869	0.03321
2.906	1.33908	0.03651
2.919	1.34069	0.04373
2.926	1.3418	0.04715
2.939	1.34851	0.04795
2.946	1.35253	0.04797
2.959	1.35691	0.05412
2.966	1.35909	0.05675
2.98	1.36257	0.0635
2.987	1.36553	0.06633
2.994	1.36989	0.06778
3.007	1.37839	0.06802
3.014	1.38073	0.068
3.029	1.38725	0.06622
3.036	1.39129	0.06532
3.05	1.39706	0.06116
3.057	1.39953	0.05854
3.064	1.40199	0.05585
3.079	1.40486	0.0488
3.086	1.40488	0.04734
3.094	1.40467	0.04607
3.108	1.4046	0.04165
3.116	1.40392	0.0398
3.123	1.40265	0.03822
3.139	1.40352	0.03291
3.146	1.40428	0.03029
3.154	1.40393	0.02789
3.169	1.40059	0.02087
3.177	1.39879	0.01816
3.185	1.39761	0.01696
3.193	1.39691	0.01692
3.208	1.39586	0.0151
3.216	1.39389	0.01327
3.224	1.39129	0.01207
3.232	1.38981	0.01095
3.249	1.38662	0.00999
3.257	1.3841	0.01187
3.265	1.38166	0.0128
3.273	1.37969	0.01174
3.29	1.37598	0.00713
3.298	1.3733	0.00694
3.307	1.36956	0.00844
3.315	1.36467	0.01061
3.324	1.35859	0.01387
3.332	1.35216	0.01632
3.349	1.33364	0.02796
3.358	1.32581	0.04187
3.367	1.32773	0.06515
3.376	1.34516	0.08869
3.384	1.36819	0.09611
3.393	1.38236	0.09455
3.402	1.39201	0.09566
3.411	1.40645	0.09389
3.429	1.42401	0.07133
3.438	1.42327	0.06086
3.447	1.42071	0.05404
3.457	1.41681	0.05324
3.466	1.41477	0.05978
3.475	1.4216	0.06806
3.484	1.43626	0.06837
3.494	1.44773	0.05794
3.503	1.44987	0.04466
3.513	1.44668	0.03417
3.522	1.44213	0.02726
3.532	1.43708	0.0226
3.542	1.43205	0.01923
3.551	1.42827	0.01587
3.561	1.42458	0.01407
3.571	1.42167	0.01348
3.581	1.42079	0.01142
3.591	1.41972	0.00933
3.601	1.41729	0.0092
3.611	1.41443	0.00965
3.621	1.41287	0.00909
3.631	1.41199	0.00869
3.641	1.41059	0.00823
3.651	1.40842	0.00808
3.662	1.40817	0.00795
3.672	1.40951	0.00716
3.682	1.40972	0.00483
3.693	1.40895	0.0051
3.704	1.40846	0.00556
3.714	1.40783	0.00512
3.725	1.40649	0.00466
3.736	1.40488	0.0044
3.746	1.40415	0.00428
3.757	1.40368	0.00415
3.768	1.40379	0.004
3.779	1.40454	0.00379
3.79	1.40443	0.00354
3.801	1.40291	0.00337
3.812	1.40133	0.00324
3.824	1.40072	0.00311
3.835	1.40108	0.00299
3.846	1.40052	0.00291
3.858	1.39899	0.00291
3.869	1.3979	0.00298
3.881	1.39682	0.00301
3.893	1.39641	0.00299
3.904	1.3968	0.00294
3.916	1.39718	0.00289
3.928	1.3978	0.0028
3.94	1.39784	0.00267
3.952	1.39712	0.00253
3.964	1.39615	0.00239
3.976	1.39448	0.00227
3.988	1.39361	0.00215
4.001	1.39323	0.00205
4.013	1.39439	0.00195
4.026	1.39544	0.00188
4.038	1.39526	0.00181
4.051	1.39488	0.00175
4.063	1.39437	0.00168
4.076	1.39405	0.00164
4.089	1.39439	0.00162
4.102	1.39395	0.00161
4.115	1.39345	0.00161
4.128	1.39263	0.00161
4.141	1.39283	0.0016
4.155	1.39372	0.00157
4.168	1.39408	0.0015
4.181	1.39354	0.0014
4.195	1.39192	0.00131
4.209	1.39047	0.00126
4.222	1.3887	0.00122
4.236	1.38848	0.00119
4.25	1.38986	0.00119
4.264	1.38917	0.00119
4.278	1.3873	0.00119
4.292	1.3871	0.00119
4.306	1.38825	0.00116
4.321	1.3892	0.00111
4.335	1.38985	0.00104
4.35	1.39062	0.0009944
4.364	1.39102	0.00096686
4.379	1.39102	0.00095
4.394	1.39065	0.00093674
4.409	1.39013	0.00092593
4.424	1.38997	0.00092797
4.439	1.38997	0.0009324
4.454	1.3895	0.00092399
4.47	1.38876	0.00091214
4.485	1.38912	0.00090953
4.501	1.38923	0.00091302
4.516	1.3887	0.0009254
4.532	1.38791	0.00094471
4.548	1.38744	0.0009591
4.564	1.38807	0.00096833
4.58	1.38762	0.00097757
4.597	1.3872	0.00098308
4.613	1.3883	0.00096541
4.629	1.38856	0.00092617
4.646	1.38784	0.00089147
4.663	1.38744	0.00087215
4.68	1.38697	0.00086057
4.696	1.38655	0.00085449
4.714	1.38659	0.00086201
4.731	1.38688	0.00090057
4.748	1.38617	0.00097274
4.766	1.38546	0.00105
4.783	1.38517	0.0011
4.801	1.38515	0.00112
4.819	1.38455	0.00112
4.837	1.38385	0.00113
4.855	1.38423	0.00116
4.873	1.38494	0.00124
4.891	1.38487	0.00134
4.91	1.38407	0.00141
4.929	1.38336	0.00141
4.947	1.38363	0.00133
4.966	1.38414	0.00118
4.985	1.38416	0.00105
5.005	1.38439	0.00099961
5.024	1.38431	0.00103
5.044	1.38454	0.0011
5.063	1.38433	0.00112
5.083	1.38296	0.00108
5.103	1.38289	0.00107
5.123	1.38376	0.00107
5.144	1.38365	0.00106
5.164	1.38292	0.00107
5.185	1.38274	0.00113
5.206	1.38316	0.00119
5.227	1.38461	0.0012
5.248	1.38338	0.00114
5.269	1.38131	0.0011
5.291	1.37971	0.00107
5.312	1.3804	0.00108
5.334	1.38117	0.00112
5.356	1.38078	0.00115
5.379	1.37951	0.00117
5.401	1.37963	0.00115
5.424	1.38059	0.00112
5.446	1.38135	0.00111
5.469	1.38202	0.00112
5.492	1.38069	0.00117
5.516	1.37944	0.00121
5.539	1.37944	0.00127
5.563	1.37903	0.00132
5.587	1.37754	0.00133
5.611	1.37748	0.00132
5.636	1.37871	0.00133
5.66	1.37857	0.00135
5.685	1.37774	0.00138
5.71	1.37743	0.00146
5.736	1.37613	0.00155
5.761	1.37477	0.00159
5.787	1.37483	0.00163
5.813	1.37589	0.00171
5.839	1.37744	0.00178
5.865	1.37739	0.00182
5.892	1.37557	0.00186
5.919	1.374	0.00191
5.946	1.37314	0.00195
5.973	1.3732	0.002
6.001	1.37382	0.00207
6.029	1.37442	0.00216
6.057	1.37283	0.00223
6.086	1.37198	0.00228
6.114	1.37276	0.00235
6.143	1.37291	0.00244
6.173	1.37208	0.00255
6.202	1.37277	0.00267
6.232	1.37188	0.00279
6.262	1.37117	0.00292
6.292	1.3709	0.00307
6.323	1.36994	0.00323
6.354	1.36891	0.00342
6.385	1.36854	0.00362
6.417	1.36619	0.00385
6.449	1.36422	0.00411
6.481	1.36429	0.00445
6.514	1.36307	0.00498
6.547	1.36172	0.00524
6.58	1.35895	0.00658
6.613	1.35551	0.00971
6.647	1.3526	0.01228
6.682	1.34831	0.01564
6.716	1.34536	0.02227
6.751	1.34479	0.03127
6.787	1.34827	0.04417
6.822	1.36077	0.05734
6.858	1.37754	0.05514
6.895	1.38566	0.04349
6.932	1.38461	0.0388
6.969	1.3835	0.03847
7.007	1.38577	0.03612
7.045	1.38655	0.03291
7.083	1.3865	0.03017
7.122	1.38423	0.02843
7.161	1.37926	0.02853
7.201	1.37525	0.03425
7.241	1.38074	0.04284
7.282	1.39095	0.04181
7.323	1.39347	0.03301
7.365	1.39172	0.028
7.407	1.38922	0.02493
7.45	1.38856	0.02388
7.493	1.39169	0.02243
7.536	1.39286	0.02258
7.58	1.39174	0.02254
7.625	1.39155	0.01916
7.67	1.38943	0.01889
7.716	1.38796	0.02093
7.762	1.38745	0.0194
7.809	1.38612	0.01581
7.856	1.38237	0.01404
7.904	1.37902	0.01584
7.952	1.37797	0.01774
8.001	1.37951	0.0175
8.051	1.38092	0.01468
8.101	1.37697	0.01648
8.152	1.3756	0.02058
8.204	1.38077	0.01895
8.256	1.38257	0.01666
8.309	1.37917	0.01756
8.363	1.37803	0.01595
8.417	1.37861	0.01061
8.472	1.37489	0.00875
8.528	1.36955	0.0113
8.584	1.36683	0.01197
8.642	1.36309	0.01082
8.7	1.35745	0.01249
8.758	1.35362	0.01408
8.818	1.34707	0.01976
8.878	1.33972	0.02858
8.939	1.34241	0.03712
9.002	1.35077	0.04073
9.065	1.34757	0.03804
9.128	1.33207	0.03578
9.193	1.30957	0.05423
9.259	1.30528	0.1049
9.325	1.35399	0.13714
9.393	1.39466	0.11651
9.462	1.39841	0.0983
9.531	1.4005	0.10401
9.602	1.41695	0.1082
9.673	1.43776	0.10068
9.746	1.4491	0.08176
9.82	1.44562	0.06257
9.895	1.43982	0.0543
9.971	1.43398	0.0447
10.04	1.42764	0.04033
10.12	1.42954	0.03425
10.2	1.42615	0.02037
10.28	1.41505	0.01941
10.37	1.41001	0.03257
10.45	1.41783	0.04639
10.53	1.43372	0.04467
10.62	1.43667	0.02761
10.71	1.42818	0.01429
10.8	1.41578	0.01235
10.89	1.40595	0.01415
10.98	1.402	0.01578
11.07	1.40367	0.01721
11.17	1.40471	0.01524
11.27	1.40348	0.01008
11.37	1.3971	0.00921
11.47	1.39042	0.01024
11.57	1.38519	0.0177
11.67	1.38304	0.02947
11.78	1.39608	0.03691
11.89	1.41053	0.02977
12.0	1.40951	0.01957
12.11	1.40119	0.01701
12.22	1.39374	0.01754
12.34	1.39058	0.01827
12.46	1.39484	0.01449
12.58	1.39319	0.0175
12.7	1.38949	0.01785
12.83	1.38939	0.01813
12.96	1.38497	0.02494
13.09	1.38	0.02725
13.22	1.38165	0.02927
13.36	1.38596	0.03589
13.5	1.39198	0.0431
13.64	1.39156	0.05444
13.79	1.39461	0.05188
13.93	1.4019	0.03963
14.08	1.4017	0.03576
14.24	1.39691	0.04228
14.4	1.39384	0.0497
14.56	1.39787	0.04711
14.73	1.40676	0.04106
14.89	1.4099	0.03639
15.07	1.41125	0.04096
15.25	1.41792	0.04816
15.43	1.42232	0.04648
15.61	1.41411	0.05226
15.8	1.41565	0.04702
16.0	1.43312	0.03935
16.2	1.44249	0.03529
16.4	1.44353	0.03446
16.61	1.43622	0.04163
16.83	1.42492	0.03855
17.05	1.41747	0.00329
17.28	1.4148	0.01876
17.51	1.42894	0.05237
17.75	1.41419	0.07801
18.0	1.40372	0.08514
18.25	1.42778	0.07553
18.51	1.4291	0.10145
18.78	1.40982	0.07383
19.06	1.44966	0.08014

Optical transmission calculator

Free-standing sample in vacuum, normal incidence

Transmittance T: —
Reflectance R: —

Fresnel reflection calculator

R_p: —
R_s: —
R = (R_p+R_s)/2: —
Phase φ_p: —
Phase φ_s: —
Brewster angle θ_B: —
Critical angle θ_C: —

C₄H₉OH (Butanol): all datasets

About C4H9OH (Butanol)

Butanol (C₄H₁₀O) refers to a group of four isomeric alcohol compounds with a four-carbon structure. The isomers include n-butanol (or 1-butanol), isobutanol (or 2-methyl-1-propanol), sec-butanol (or 2-butanol), and tert-butanol (or 2-methyl-2-propanol). Of these, n-butanol is the most commonly referred to when discussing "butanol." Butanol is a colorless liquid at room temperature with a characteristic alcoholic odor. It is moderately soluble in water but is very soluble in most organic solvents. It's utilized in a wide variety of applications, including as a solvent in the manufacturing of resins, plasticizers, and other chemicals. It's also employed in the formulation of paints, coatings, varnishes, and inks. In addition, butanol is considered a potential biofuel, as it can be produced from biomass sources and has properties comparable to gasoline. Chemical formula (n-Butanol): CH₃(CH₂)₃OH or C₄H₉OH Chemical formula (sec-Butanol): CH₃CH(OH)CH₂CH₃ Chemical formula (Isobutanol): (CH₃)₂CHCH₂OH Chemical formula (tert-Butanol): (CH₃)₃COH

More about C4H9OH (Butanol) →

Provenance

Version: 1 (snapshot c5c2f18)
Source page: refractiveindex.info
Original file: database/data/organic/C4H10O - butanol/nk/Wang-20C.yml
ID: ds_7b9080fbf53c
API: /v1/datasets/ds_7b9080fbf53c

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