Optical constants

Refractive index of Fe (Iron)

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

Axis Log x Log y

Click the plot to set the calculator wavelength.

At one wavelength

Refractive index n: 3.34973
Extinction coefficient k: 3.40908

Permittivity ε₁: -0.401149
Permittivity ε₂: 22.839

Absorption coefficient α: 729064 cm⁻¹
Penetration depth δ = λ/(2πk): 27.4324 nm

Abbe number V_d: —
Chromatic dispersion dn/dλ: -1.4489 µm⁻¹

Group index n_g: 4.2011
Group velocity dispersion: — fs²/mm

Dispersion parameter D: — ps/(nm·km)
Photon energy: 2.11001 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

# Fe (Iron): Werner et al. 2009: DFT calculations; n,k 0.0176–2.48 µm
fe = ls.fetch_refractiveindex("main", "Fe", "Werner-DFT", ref="c5c2f188e848453def5970e347399d653df2ffc2")
print(fe.range_nm)  # (17.586, 2479.68) nm
eps = fe.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_7a6534eff32b/lightsmith"
fe = ls.Tabulated.model_validate(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(url)))
print(fe.source)  # citation and provenance travel with the data

Any dataset here, as the library's Tabulated material (fe/werner-2009-dft).

# ... load fe as above, then:
sim = ls.Simulation(
    particles=[ls.Particle(shape=ls.Sphere(radius_nm=50), material=fe)],
    medium_index=1.0,
    wavelengths=ls.WavelengthRange(start_nm=400, stop_nm=1000, 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

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

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

Fe (Iron), Werner et al. 2009: DFT calculations; n,k 0.0176–2.48 µm: n and k versus wavelength
λ (µm)	n	k
0.017586	0.8631	0.0631
0.017712	0.86	0.068
0.017839	0.862	0.0708
0.017969	0.8598	0.0721
0.0181	0.8611	0.0737
0.018233	0.8574	0.0711
0.018368	0.8512	0.074
0.018505	0.8469	0.0785
0.018644	0.8433	0.0848
0.018785	0.8415	0.0903
0.018929	0.8422	0.0962
0.019074	0.8432	0.0996
0.019222	0.8415	0.101
0.019373	0.8392	0.1061
0.019525	0.8401	0.1083
0.01968	0.8371	0.1081
0.019837	0.8297	0.1157
0.019997	0.8292	0.129
0.02016	0.8494	0.143
0.020325	0.8504	0.1058
0.020493	0.8285	0.1201
0.020664	0.8789	0.124
0.020838	0.8265	0.078
0.021014	0.7914	0.0853
0.021194	0.7656	0.1006
0.021377	0.7464	0.1186
0.021562	0.7243	0.1367
0.021752	0.7011	0.1598
0.021944	0.6754	0.1903
0.02214	0.6493	0.2295
0.022339	0.6179	0.2824
0.022543	0.5782	0.3623
0.022749	0.5395	0.5301
0.02296	0.6535	0.655
0.023175	0.955	0.9602
0.023393	1.2885	0.7171
0.023616	1.431	0.529
0.023843	1.4159	0.2896
0.024075	1.3256	0.1709
0.024311	1.2229	0.0916
0.024551	1.1533	0.0845
0.024797	1.1097	0.0807
0.025047	1.0782	0.0807
0.025303	1.0538	0.0807
0.025564	1.0328	0.0818
0.02583	1.0169	0.0836
0.026102	1.0023	0.0868
0.02638	0.9919	0.0892
0.026663	0.9819	0.0906
0.026953	0.9748	0.0908
0.027249	0.9632	0.0882
0.027552	0.9509	0.0904
0.027862	0.9392	0.0953
0.028178	0.932	0.0982
0.028502	0.9207	0.1032
0.028834	0.9155	0.1103
0.029173	0.9075	0.1124
0.02952	0.9004	0.1211
0.029876	0.8969	0.1243
0.03024	0.8899	0.1298
0.030613	0.8805	0.1352
0.030996	0.876	0.1461
0.031388	0.8758	0.1547
0.031791	0.8703	0.1626
0.032204	0.8765	0.174
0.032627	0.8824	0.1723
0.033062	0.8783	0.1657
0.033509	0.8683	0.1699
0.033968	0.8645	0.1741
0.03444	0.8608	0.1789
0.034925	0.8538	0.1786
0.035424	0.8458	0.188
0.035937	0.8425	0.1946
0.036466	0.8483	0.2039
0.03701	0.8374	0.1929
0.037571	0.8228	0.1999
0.038149	0.8162	0.2077
0.038745	0.7968	0.219
0.03936	0.7972	0.244
0.039995	0.7962	0.2468
0.040651	0.7964	0.2555
0.041328	0.785	0.2573
0.042029	0.7824	0.2722
0.042753	0.7712	0.2678
0.043503	0.7455	0.2945
0.04428	0.766	0.3094
0.045085	0.7418	0.302
0.04592	0.7259	0.33
0.046786	0.6949	0.3547
0.047686	0.7041	0.4034
0.048621	0.7258	0.4299
0.049594	0.7431	0.4077
0.050606	0.6974	0.4223
0.05166	0.6938	0.4576
0.052759	0.6676	0.4876
0.053906	0.6539	0.5483
0.055104	0.6732	0.6076
0.056356	0.7024	0.6506
0.057667	0.7298	0.6954
0.05904	0.7836	0.7389
0.06048	0.8371	0.734
0.061992	0.8659	0.7299
0.063582	0.8871	0.7429
0.065255	0.9494	0.7283
0.067018	0.965	0.6762
0.06888	0.9261	0.6479
0.070848	0.8858	0.6508
0.072932	0.8512	0.6808
0.075142	0.8304	0.7208
0.07749	0.8188	0.7664
0.07999	0.8152	0.8182
0.082656	0.8224	0.8749
0.085506	0.8431	0.9305
0.08856	0.8719	0.9789
0.09184	0.9044	1.0266
0.095372	0.9481	1.0737
0.099187	1.0058	1.1016
0.10332	1.0613	1.0911
0.107812	1.0775	1.084
0.112713	1.0176	1.1178
0.11808	1.0469	1.2236
0.123984	1.1693	1.2815
0.13051	1.2701	1.1735
0.13776	1.1988	1.0923
0.145864	1.0254	1.0181
0.15498	0.7709	1.2693
0.165312	0.7778	1.6168
0.17712	0.9378	1.9518
0.190745	1.4834	2.0571
0.20664	1.1864	1.5108
0.225426	1.0219	2.0125
0.247968	1.1812	2.2655
0.261019	1.1804	2.3542
0.27552	1.0517	2.532
0.291728	1.0611	2.8759
0.30996	1.1942	3.2461
0.330625	1.4322	3.6584
0.354241	1.9628	3.9857
0.38149	2.4265	3.9832
0.413281	2.8893	3.975
0.450852	3.2526	3.79
0.495937	3.4938	3.5324
0.551041	3.4027	3.3585
0.619921	3.3029	3.4538
0.708481	3.2476	3.6546
0.826561	3.1729	4.079
0.991874	3.1711	4.7039
1.239842	3.1843	5.6415
1.653123	3.003	7.322
2.479684	3.0091	11.4101

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: —

Fe (Iron): all datasets

Experimental data

Models and simulations

Werner et al. 2009: DFT calculations; n,k 0.0176–2.48 µm n,k 0.01759–2.48 µm

About Fe (Iron)

Iron (Fe) is a common element with widespread industrial applications, including construction, transportation, and manufacturing. In the context of optical systems, iron is not typically used in its elemental form due to its propensity for oxidation and poor transparency to light. However, iron-doped materials, such as iron-doped silica, are used for specialized applications such as in optical fibers for telecommunications and sensors. Iron is also used in the form of thin films in some optical components where its magnetic properties are advantageous. Additionally, mirrors for high-power laser applications can be made from polished iron or iron alloys, though this is less common than materials like copper. Overall, while elemental iron is not a primary material in optical applications, its properties are leveraged in various forms and composites for specialized uses.

More about Fe (Iron) →

Provenance

Version: 1 (snapshot c5c2f18)
Source page: refractiveindex.info
Original file: database/data/main/Fe/nk/Werner-DFT.yml
ID: ds_7a6534eff32b
API: /v1/datasets/ds_7a6534eff32b

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