Optical constants

Refractive index of H2O, D2O (Water, heavy water, ice)

Afsar and Hasted 1977: Water; n,k 22.22–1733 µm; 19.0 °C

Data
tabulated nk
Range
22.22–1733 µm
Points
34
Temperature
292 K
State
liquid
Licence
CC0-1.0

Plot

Click the plot to set the calculator wavelength.

At one wavelength

Range 22.22–1733 µm
Refractive index n
2.0264
Extinction coefficient k
0.466156
Permittivity ε1
3.88898
Permittivity ε2
1.88923
Absorption coefficient α
298.872 cm⁻¹
Penetration depth δ = λ/(2πk)
66918.3 nm
Abbe number Vd
—
Chromatic dispersion dn/dλ
0.000900901 µm⁻¹
Group index ng
1.84982
Group velocity dispersion
— fs²/mm
Dispersion parameter D
— ps/(nm·km)
Photon energy
0.00632572 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

# H2O, D2O (Water, heavy water, ice): Afsar and Hasted 1977: Water; n,k 22.22–1733 µm; 19.0 °C
h2o_d2o = ls.fetch_refractiveindex("main", "H2O", "Asfar-H2O", ref="c5c2f188e848453def5970e347399d653df2ffc2")
print(h2o_d2o.range_nm)  # (22220, 1.733e+06) nm
eps = h2o_d2o.eps([196000])  # 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

Liquid water (H2O) at 19 °C

Conditions

temperature
292 K

References

M. N. Afsar and J. B. Hasted. Measurements of the optical constants of liquid H2O and D2O between 6 and 450 cm−1. J. Opt. Soc. Am. 67, 902-904 (1977)
  • doi:10.1364/josa.67.000902 Measurements of the optical constants of liquid H_2O and D_2O between 6 and 450 cm^−1, Journal of the Optical Society of America (1977)

Cite

M. N. Afsar and J. B. Hasted. Measurements of the optical constants of liquid H_2O and D_2O between 6 and 450 cm^−1. Journal of the Optical Society of America, 67, 902 (1977), doi:10.1364/josa.67.000902; Data from the refractiveindex.info database (M. N. Polyanskiy, Sci. Data 11, 94 (2024), doi:10.1038/s41597-023-02898-2)

Data

34 rows as published
H2O, D2O (Water, heavy water, ice), Afsar and Hasted 1977: Water; n,k 22.22–1733 µm; 19.0 °C: n and k versus wavelength
λ (µm)nk
22.221.510.375
23.261.540.359
24.391.550.343
25.641.560.327
27.031.570.31
28.571.570.293
30.31.570.279
32.261.560.28
34.481.540.288
37.041.530.307
40.01.530.344
43.481.540.396
47.621.580.455
52.631.640.503
58.821.720.527
66.671.810.523
76.921.860.506
90.911.910.463
100.01.930.438
111.11.940.416
125.01.960.418
142.91.970.421
166.72.00.438
200.02.030.47
247.52.060.512
289.02.090.543
347.22.150.586
433.52.220.648
520.32.270.712
650.22.350.792
867.32.470.966
1041.02.561.06
1300.02.71.169
1733.03.051.393

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
—