Optical constants

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

Hale and Querry 1973: Water; n,k 0.2–200 µm; 25 °C

Data
tabulated nk
Range
0.2–200 µm
Points
169
Temperature
298 K
State
liquid
Licence
CC0-1.0
Lightsmith
bundled, default

Plot

Click the plot to set the calculator wavelength.

At one wavelength

Range 0.2–200 µm
Refractive index n
1.3325
Extinction coefficient k
7.27920e-09
Permittivity ε1
1.77555
Permittivity ε2
1.93990e-08
Absorption coefficient α
0.00155672 cm⁻¹
Penetration depth δ = λ/(2πk)
1.28475e+10 nm
Abbe number Vd
—
Chromatic dispersion dn/dλ
-0.04 µm⁻¹
Group index ng
1.356
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

# H2O, D2O (Water, heavy water, ice): Hale and Querry 1973: Water; n,k 0.2–200 µm; 25 °C
h2o_d2o = ls.LibraryMaterial(name="H2O", dataset="Hale-Querry")
print(h2o_d2o.range_nm)  # (200, 200000) nm
eps = h2o_d2o.eps([633])  # complex permittivity

Ships with the library: works offline and is the library's own default dataset choice.

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 25 °C

Conditions

temperature
298 K

References

G. M. Hale and M. R. Querry. Optical constants of water in the 200-nm to 200-µm wavelength region. Appl. Opt. 12, 555-563 (1973)
See also Segelstein 1981 for more recent data from the same group.

Cite

George M. Hale and Marvin R. Querry. Optical Constants of Water in the 200-nm to 200-μm Wavelength Region. Applied Optics, 12, 555 (1973), doi:10.1364/ao.12.000555; See also Segelstein 1981 for more recent data from the same group.; Data from the refractiveindex.info database (M. N. Polyanskiy, Sci. Data 11, 94 (2024), doi:10.1038/s41597-023-02898-2)

Data

169 rows as published
H2O, D2O (Water, heavy water, ice), Hale and Querry 1973: Water; n,k 0.2–200 µm; 25 °C: n and k versus wavelength
λ (µm)nk
0.21.3961.1e-07
0.2251.3734.9e-08
0.251.3623.35e-08
0.2751.3542.35e-08
0.31.3491.6e-08
0.3251.3461.08e-08
0.351.3436.5e-09
0.3751.3413.5e-09
0.41.3391.86e-09
0.4251.3381.3e-09
0.451.3371.02e-09
0.4751.3369.35e-10
0.51.3351e-09
0.5251.3341.32e-09
0.551.3331.96e-09
0.5751.3333.6e-09
0.61.3321.09e-08
0.6251.3321.39e-08
0.651.3311.64e-08
0.6751.3312.23e-08
0.71.3313.35e-08
0.7251.339.15e-08
0.751.331.56e-07
0.7751.331.48e-07
0.81.3291.25e-07
0.8251.3291.82e-07
0.851.3292.93e-07
0.8751.3283.91e-07
0.91.3284.86e-07
0.9251.3281.06e-06
0.951.3272.93e-06
0.9751.3273.48e-06
1.01.3272.89e-06
1.21.3249.89e-06
1.41.3210.000138
1.61.3178.55e-05
1.81.3120.000115
2.01.3060.0011
2.21.2960.000289
2.41.2790.000956
2.61.2420.00317
2.651.2190.0067
2.71.1880.019
2.751.1570.059
2.81.1420.115
2.851.1490.185
2.91.2010.268
2.951.2920.298
3.01.3710.272
3.051.4260.24
3.11.4670.192
3.151.4830.135
3.21.4780.0924
3.251.4670.061
3.31.450.0368
3.351.4320.0261
3.41.420.0195
3.451.410.0132
3.51.40.0094
3.61.3850.00515
3.71.3740.0036
3.81.3640.0034
3.91.3570.0038
4.01.3510.0046
4.11.3460.00562
4.21.3420.00688
4.31.3380.00845
4.41.3340.0103
4.51.3320.0134
4.61.330.0147
4.71.330.0157
4.81.330.015
4.91.3280.0137
5.01.3250.0124
5.11.3220.0111
5.21.3170.0101
5.31.3120.0098
5.41.3050.0103
5.51.2980.0116
5.61.2890.0142
5.71.2770.0203
5.81.2620.033
5.91.2480.0622
6.01.2650.107
6.11.3190.131
6.21.3630.088
6.31.3570.057
6.41.3470.0449
6.51.3390.0392
6.61.3340.0356
6.71.3290.0337
6.81.3240.0327
6.91.3210.0322
7.01.3170.032
7.11.3140.032
7.21.3120.0321
7.31.3090.0322
7.41.3070.0324
7.51.3040.0326
7.61.3020.0328
7.71.2990.0331
7.81.2970.0335
7.91.2940.0339
8.01.2910.0343
8.21.2860.0351
8.41.2810.0361
8.61.2750.0372
8.81.2690.0385
9.01.2620.0399
9.21.2550.0415
9.41.2470.0433
9.61.2390.0454
9.81.2290.0479
10.01.2180.0508
10.51.1850.0662
11.01.1530.0968
11.51.1260.142
12.01.1110.199
12.51.1230.259
13.01.1460.305
13.51.1770.343
14.01.210.37
14.51.2410.388
15.01.270.402
15.51.2970.414
16.01.3250.422
16.51.3510.428
17.01.3760.429
17.51.4010.429
18.01.4230.426
18.51.4430.421
19.01.4610.414
19.51.4760.404
20.01.480.393
21.01.4870.382
22.01.50.373
23.01.5110.367
24.01.5210.361
25.01.5310.356
26.01.5390.35
27.01.5450.344
28.01.5490.338
29.01.5510.333
30.01.5510.328
32.01.5460.324
34.01.5360.329
36.01.5270.343
38.01.5220.361
40.01.5190.385
42.01.5220.409
44.01.530.436
46.01.5410.462
48.01.5550.488
50.01.5870.514
60.01.7030.587
70.01.8210.576
80.01.8860.547
90.01.9240.536
100.01.9570.532
110.01.9660.531
120.02.0040.526
130.02.0360.514
140.02.0560.5
150.02.0690.495
160.02.0810.496
170.02.0940.497
180.02.1070.499
190.02.1190.501
200.02.130.504

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
—