Optical constants

Refractive index of GaAs (Gallium arsenide)

Rakić and Majewski 1996: n,k 0.207–12.4 µm

Data: tabulated nk
Range: 0.2066–12.4 µm
Points: 200
Licence: CC0-1.0

Axis Log x Log y

Click the plot to set the calculator wavelength.

At one wavelength

Refractive index n: 3.88368
Extinction coefficient k: 0.228087

Permittivity ε₁: 15.0309
Permittivity ε₂: 1.77164

Absorption coefficient α: 48778.6 cm⁻¹
Penetration depth δ = λ/(2πk): 410.016 nm

Abbe number V_d: —
Chromatic dispersion dn/dλ: -2.497 µm⁻¹

Group index n_g: 5.35092
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

# GaAs (Gallium arsenide): Rakić and Majewski 1996: n,k 0.207–12.4 µm
gaas = ls.fetch_refractiveindex("main", "GaAs", "Rakic", ref="c5c2f188e848453def5970e347399d653df2ffc2")
print(gaas.range_nm)  # (206.64, 12398) nm
eps = gaas.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_6e28545d783d/lightsmith"
gaas = ls.Tabulated.model_validate(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(url)))
print(gaas.source)  # citation and provenance travel with the data

Any dataset here, as the library's Tabulated material (gaas/rakic-majewski-1996).

# ... load gaas as above, then:
sim = ls.Simulation(
    particles=[ls.Particle(shape=ls.Sphere(radius_nm=50), material=gaas)],
    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.

References

A. D. Rakić and M. L. Majewski. Modeling the optical dielectric function of GaAs and AlAs: Extension of Adachi’s model. J. Appl. Phys. 80, 5909-5914 (1996)
[Calculation script (Python)]

doi:10.1063/1.363586 Modeling the optical dielectric function of GaAs and AlAs: Extension of Adachi’s model, Journal of Applied Physics (1996)

Cite

Aleksandar D. Rakić and Marian L. Majewski. Modeling the optical dielectric function of GaAs and AlAs: Extension of Adachi’s model. Journal of Applied Physics, 80, 5909-5914 (1996), doi:10.1063/1.363586; [Calculation script (Python)]; Data from the refractiveindex.info database (M. N. Polyanskiy, Sci. Data 11, 94 (2024), doi:10.1038/s41597-023-02898-2)

Data

200 rows as published

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

GaAs (Gallium arsenide), Rakić and Majewski 1996: n,k 0.207–12.4 µm: n and k versus wavelength
λ (µm)	n	k
0.20664	1.0752	2.5927
0.20767	1.0835	2.6151
0.2087	1.0921	2.6382
0.20975	1.1011	2.6619
0.21081	1.1104	2.6865
0.21188	1.1201	2.7118
0.21295	1.1303	2.7379
0.21404	1.141	2.7649
0.21515	1.1522	2.7928
0.21626	1.164	2.8217
0.21738	1.1765	2.8517
0.21852	1.1896	2.8827
0.21967	1.2036	2.9149
0.22083	1.2184	2.9484
0.222	1.2342	2.9832
0.22318	1.2511	3.0194
0.22438	1.2692	3.057
0.22559	1.2887	3.0963
0.22681	1.3097	3.1373
0.22805	1.3325	3.1801
0.2293	1.3572	3.2248
0.23057	1.3841	3.2715
0.23184	1.4136	3.3204
0.23314	1.446	3.3716
0.23444	1.4817	3.4253
0.23577	1.5214	3.4816
0.2371	1.5656	3.5405
0.23845	1.6152	3.6023
0.23982	1.6711	3.667
0.2412	1.7347	3.7346
0.2426	1.8077	3.8049
0.24402	1.8923	3.8773
0.24545	1.9915	3.9508
0.2469	2.1089	4.0226
0.24837	2.2487	4.0877
0.24985	2.4139	4.1368
0.25135	2.6026	4.1559
0.25287	2.8014	4.1304
0.25441	2.9856	4.0569
0.25597	3.1332	3.9517
0.25755	3.2409	3.8408
0.25914	3.3219	3.7405
0.26076	3.3908	3.653
0.26239	3.4558	3.5739
0.26405	3.5194	3.4981
0.26573	3.5818	3.4226
0.26743	3.6421	3.3457
0.26915	3.6999	3.2664
0.27089	3.7546	3.1839
0.27266	3.8054	3.0973
0.27445	3.8508	3.006
0.27626	3.8889	2.9098
0.2781	3.9173	2.8098
0.27996	3.9343	2.7081
0.28185	3.9393	2.6075
0.28376	3.9324	2.511
0.2857	3.9153	2.4209
0.28766	3.8898	2.3391
0.28966	3.8583	2.2665
0.29168	3.8227	2.2031
0.29372	3.7851	2.1489
0.2958	3.7467	2.1031
0.29791	3.7088	2.065
0.30005	3.6723	2.0337
0.30222	3.6377	2.0085
0.30442	3.6054	1.9886
0.30665	3.5757	1.9733
0.30891	3.5487	1.9619
0.31121	3.5245	1.9539
0.31354	3.5031	1.9489
0.31591	3.4845	1.9464
0.31832	3.4686	1.9461
0.32076	3.4553	1.9477
0.32324	3.4446	1.951
0.32576	3.4365	1.9556
0.32831	3.4307	1.9616
0.33091	3.4272	1.9686
0.33355	3.426	1.9767
0.33623	3.427	1.9858
0.33896	3.4302	1.9958
0.34173	3.4354	2.0067
0.34454	3.4427	2.0187
0.34741	3.4521	2.0317
0.35032	3.4636	2.0459
0.35328	3.4775	2.0616
0.35629	3.4938	2.079
0.35935	3.513	2.0985
0.36246	3.5358	2.1206
0.36563	3.5632	2.1457
0.36886	3.5967	2.174
0.37214	3.6387	2.2056
0.37548	3.6926	2.2391
0.37888	3.7618	2.271
0.38235	3.8487	2.2944
0.38588	3.9508	2.2995
0.38947	4.0575	2.2786
0.39313	4.1533	2.2339
0.39686	4.2284	2.1791
0.40066	4.2865	2.131
0.40454	4.3416	2.0989
0.40849	4.411	2.0805
0.41252	4.5082	2.0625
0.41663	4.6366	2.0226
0.42082	4.783	1.9374
0.4251	4.9184	1.7965
0.42947	5.0126	1.6118
0.43392	5.0515	1.4109
0.43847	5.0406	1.2197
0.44312	4.9948	1.0524
0.44786	4.9289	0.91267
0.45271	4.8537	0.7986
0.45767	4.7761	0.70605
0.46273	4.6998	0.63081
0.46791	4.6268	0.56924
0.4732	4.5579	0.51842
0.47862	4.4934	0.47607
0.48416	4.4332	0.44046
0.48983	4.3772	0.41023
0.49564	4.325	0.38435
0.50158	4.2764	0.36203
0.50767	4.231	0.34264
0.51391	4.1887	0.32567
0.5203	4.1491	0.31073
0.52686	4.1121	0.2975
0.53358	4.0775	0.28572
0.54048	4.045	0.27517
0.54756	4.0145	0.26567
0.55482	3.9859	0.25707
0.56228	3.959	0.24924
0.56994	3.9338	0.24206
0.57782	3.9101	0.23543
0.58591	3.8879	0.22926
0.59424	3.8671	0.22348
0.60281	3.8476	0.21799
0.61162	3.8294	0.21272
0.6207	3.8123	0.2076
0.63005	3.7965	0.20254
0.63969	3.7818	0.19745
0.64963	3.7681	0.19224
0.65988	3.7556	0.18676
0.67046	3.744	0.18085
0.68138	3.7336	0.17423
0.69267	3.7241	0.16637
0.70433	3.7155	0.15566
0.7164	3.6968	0.14206
0.72889	3.682	0.13842
0.74182	3.6703	0.1344
0.75521	3.6602	0.12994
0.7691	3.6515	0.1249
0.78351	3.644	0.11913
0.79847	3.6376	0.11237
0.81402	3.6322	0.10425
0.83018	3.6279	0.094172
0.84699	3.6238	0.080533
0.8645	3.607	0.059067
0.88275	3.5815	0.044254
0.90179	3.5664	0.022701
0.92166	3.5453	0.016655
0.94243	3.5276	0.015411
0.96416	3.5119	0.014358
0.98691	3.4977	0.013366
1.0108	3.4845	0.012431
1.0358	3.4722	0.011553
1.0621	3.4606	0.010728
1.0898	3.4497	0.0099539
1.119	3.4393	0.0092282
1.1497	3.4294	0.0085484
1.1822	3.4199	0.0079119
1.2166	3.4109	0.0073164
1.2531	3.4022	0.0067596
1.2918	3.3939	0.0062393
1.3329	3.386	0.0057535
1.3768	3.3784	0.0053002
1.4237	3.3711	0.0048775
1.4739	3.3641	0.0044836
1.5277	3.3574	0.0041169
1.5857	3.3509	0.0037755
1.6482	3.3448	0.0034582
1.7158	3.3388	0.0031633
1.7892	3.3332	0.0028894
1.8692	3.3277	0.0026354
1.9566	3.3225	0.0023999
2.0527	3.3175	0.0021818
2.1586	3.3128	0.0019799
2.2761	3.3082	0.0017932
2.4071	3.3039	0.0016206
2.5541	3.2998	0.0014614
2.7203	3.2959	0.0013145
2.9095	3.2922	0.0011792
3.1271	3.2886	0.0010546
3.3798	3.2853	0.00094004
3.677	3.2821	0.00083479
4.0315	3.2792	0.0007382
4.4616	3.2764	0.00064966
4.9945	3.2738	0.0005686
5.6719	3.2714	0.00049446
6.5619	3.2692	0.00042674
7.7832	3.2671	0.00036498
9.5631	3.2652	0.00030871
12.398	3.2635	0.00025753

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: —

GaAs (Gallium arsenide): all datasets

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About GaAs (Gallium arsenide)

Gallium arsenide (GaAs) is a compound semiconductor material that holds a prominent position in the world of optoelectronics and high-frequency electronics. With a direct bandgap of approximately 1.43 eV, GaAs is highly efficient for radiation recombination, making it ideal for a range of applications such as solar cells, lasers, and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). It offers superior electron mobility compared to silicon, which allows for faster electronic devices and is widely used in applications requiring high-frequency operation like in microwave and millimeter-wave technologies. GaAs is commonly grown using methods such as molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) or metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). While it's more costly to produce than silicon, the material's superior electronic and optoelectronic properties often justify the additional expense in specialized applications.

More about GaAs (Gallium arsenide) →

Provenance

Version: 1 (snapshot c5c2f18)
Source page: refractiveindex.info
Original file: database/data/main/GaAs/nk/Rakic.yml
ID: ds_6e28545d783d
API: /v1/datasets/ds_6e28545d783d

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