Optical constants

Refractive index of C₆H₁₄ (Hexane)

Kerl and Varchmin 1995: n-Hexane; 293 K; n 0.326–0.644 µm

Data: formula 5
Range: 0.326–0.644 µm
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: 1.35442
Extinction coefficient k: 0

Permittivity ε₁: 1.83444
Permittivity ε₂: 0

Absorption coefficient α: 0 cm⁻¹
Penetration depth δ = λ/(2πk): — nm

Abbe number V_d: —
Chromatic dispersion dn/dλ: -0.0321833 µm⁻¹

Group index n_g: 1.37333
Group velocity dispersion: 65.9965 fs²/mm

Dispersion parameter D: -360.046 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

# C6H14 (Hexane): Kerl and Varchmin 1995: n-Hexane; 293 K; n 0.326–0.644 µm
c6h14 = ls.fetch_refractiveindex("organic", "hexane", "Kerl-293K", ref="c5c2f188e848453def5970e347399d653df2ffc2")
print(c6h14.range_nm)  # (326, 644) nm
eps = c6h14.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_d4f26baee0f0/lightsmith"
c6h14 = ls.Tabulated.model_validate(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(url)))
print(c6h14.source)  # citation and provenance travel with the data

Any dataset here, as the library's Tabulated material (hexane/kerl-varchmin-1995-293k).

# ... load c6h14 as above, then:
sim = ls.Simulation(
    particles=[ls.Particle(shape=ls.Sphere(radius_nm=50), material=c6h14)],
    medium_index=1.0,
    wavelengths=ls.WavelengthRange(start_nm=400, stop_nm=644, 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.

Dispersion formula

Cauchy (formula 5), λ in µm

n = 1.34830572 - 0.00393237 λ^{- 1.0} + 0.00442005 λ^{- 2.0}

Valid from 0.326 to 0.644 µm.

Coefficients as stored

C_i	Value
C1	1.34830572
C2	-0.00393237
C3	-1.0
C4	0.00442005
C5	-2.0

Comments and conditions

n-Hexane; 293 K (20 °C). See the original publication for the expression for n(λ,T).

Conditions

temperature: 293 K

References

K. Kerl and H. Varchmin. Refractive index dispersion (RID) of some liquids in the UV/VIS between 20°C and 60°C. J. Mol. Struct. 349, 257-260 (1995)

doi:10.1016/0022-2860(95)08758-n Refractive index dispersion (RID) of some liquids in the UV/VIS between 20°C and 60°C, Journal of Molecular Structure (1995)

Cite

K. Kerl and H. Varchmin. Refractive index dispersion (RID) of some liquids in the UV/VIS between 20°C and 60°C. Journal of Molecular Structure, 349, 257-260 (1995), doi:10.1016/0022-2860(95)08758-n; Data from the refractiveindex.info database (M. N. Polyanskiy, Sci. Data 11, 94 (2024), doi:10.1038/s41597-023-02898-2)

Data

Computed on 400 wavelengths, the same grid as the API and the library

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

C6H14 (Hexane), Kerl and Varchmin 1995: n-Hexane; 293 K; n 0.326–0.644 µm: n and k versus wavelength
λ (µm)	n
0.326	1.377834
0.326557	1.377712
0.327114	1.377592
0.327673	1.377472
0.328233	1.377352
0.328793	1.377232
0.329355	1.377113
0.329917	1.376995
0.33048	1.376877
0.331045	1.376759
0.33161	1.376642
0.332176	1.376526
0.332744	1.376409
0.333312	1.376293
0.333881	1.376178
0.334451	1.376063
0.335022	1.375948
0.335595	1.375834
0.336168	1.375721
0.336742	1.375607
0.337317	1.375494
0.337893	1.375382
0.33847	1.37527
0.339048	1.375158
0.339627	1.375047
0.340207	1.374936
0.340788	1.374826
0.34137	1.374716
0.341953	1.374606
0.342537	1.374497
0.343122	1.374388
0.343708	1.37428
0.344295	1.374172
0.344883	1.374064
0.345472	1.373957
0.346062	1.37385
0.346653	1.373744
0.347245	1.373638
0.347838	1.373533
0.348432	1.373427
0.349027	1.373323
0.349623	1.373218
0.35022	1.373114
0.350818	1.373011
0.351417	1.372907
0.352017	1.372804
0.352618	1.372702
0.35322	1.3726
0.353824	1.372498
0.354428	1.372397
0.355033	1.372296
0.355639	1.372195
0.356247	1.372095
0.356855	1.371995
0.357464	1.371896
0.358075	1.371797
0.358686	1.371698
0.359299	1.3716
0.359913	1.371502
0.360527	1.371404
0.361143	1.371307
0.36176	1.37121
0.362377	1.371113
0.362996	1.371017
0.363616	1.370921
0.364237	1.370826
0.364859	1.370731
0.365482	1.370636
0.366106	1.370542
0.366731	1.370448
0.367358	1.370354
0.367985	1.370261
0.368614	1.370168
0.369243	1.370075
0.369874	1.369983
0.370505	1.369891
0.371138	1.369799
0.371772	1.369708
0.372407	1.369617
0.373043	1.369527
0.37368	1.369436
0.374318	1.369346
0.374957	1.369257
0.375597	1.369168
0.376239	1.369079
0.376881	1.36899
0.377525	1.368902
0.37817	1.368814
0.378815	1.368727
0.379462	1.368639
0.38011	1.368552
0.380759	1.368466
0.38141	1.36838
0.382061	1.368294
0.382714	1.368208
0.383367	1.368123
0.384022	1.368038
0.384678	1.367953
0.385334	1.367869
0.385993	1.367785
0.386652	1.367701
0.387312	1.367618
0.387973	1.367535
0.388636	1.367452
0.3893	1.367369
0.389964	1.367287
0.39063	1.367205
0.391298	1.367124
0.391966	1.367043
0.392635	1.366962
0.393306	1.366881
0.393977	1.366801
0.39465	1.366721
0.395324	1.366641
0.395999	1.366562
0.396675	1.366483
0.397353	1.366404
0.398031	1.366325
0.398711	1.366247
0.399392	1.366169
0.400074	1.366092
0.400757	1.366014
0.401442	1.365937
0.402127	1.365861
0.402814	1.365784
0.403502	1.365708
0.404191	1.365632
0.404881	1.365557
0.405573	1.365481
0.406265	1.365406
0.406959	1.365332
0.407654	1.365257
0.40835	1.365183
0.409047	1.365109
0.409746	1.365035
0.410446	1.364962
0.411147	1.364889
0.411849	1.364816
0.412552	1.364744
0.413257	1.364672
0.413962	1.3646
0.414669	1.364528
0.415377	1.364457
0.416087	1.364385
0.416797	1.364315
0.417509	1.364244
0.418222	1.364174
0.418936	1.364104
0.419652	1.364034
0.420368	1.363964
0.421086	1.363895
0.421805	1.363826
0.422526	1.363757
0.423247	1.363689
0.42397	1.363621
0.424694	1.363553
0.425419	1.363485
0.426146	1.363417
0.426874	1.36335
0.427603	1.363283
0.428333	1.363217
0.429064	1.36315
0.429797	1.363084
0.430531	1.363018
0.431266	1.362952
0.432003	1.362887
0.43274	1.362822
0.433479	1.362757
0.43422	1.362692
0.434961	1.362628
0.435704	1.362564
0.436448	1.3625
0.437193	1.362436
0.43794	1.362373
0.438688	1.362309
0.439437	1.362246
0.440187	1.362184
0.440939	1.362121
0.441692	1.362059
0.442446	1.361997
0.443202	1.361935
0.443959	1.361874
0.444717	1.361812
0.445477	1.361751
0.446237	1.36169
0.446999	1.36163
0.447763	1.36157
0.448527	1.361509
0.449293	1.361449
0.450061	1.36139
0.450829	1.36133
0.451599	1.361271
0.45237	1.361212
0.453143	1.361153
0.453917	1.361095
0.454692	1.361037
0.455468	1.360978
0.456246	1.360921
0.457025	1.360863
0.457806	1.360806
0.458588	1.360748
0.459371	1.360691
0.460155	1.360635
0.460941	1.360578
0.461728	1.360522
0.462517	1.360466
0.463306	1.36041
0.464098	1.360354
0.46489	1.360299
0.465684	1.360243
0.466479	1.360188
0.467276	1.360133
0.468074	1.360079
0.468873	1.360024
0.469674	1.35997
0.470476	1.359916
0.47128	1.359862
0.472084	1.359809
0.472891	1.359756
0.473698	1.359702
0.474507	1.359649
0.475317	1.359597
0.476129	1.359544
0.476942	1.359492
0.477757	1.35944
0.478573	1.359388
0.47939	1.359336
0.480209	1.359284
0.481029	1.359233
0.48185	1.359182
0.482673	1.359131
0.483497	1.35908
0.484323	1.35903
0.48515	1.358979
0.485978	1.358929
0.486808	1.358879
0.48764	1.358829
0.488472	1.35878
0.489307	1.358731
0.490142	1.358681
0.490979	1.358632
0.491818	1.358584
0.492658	1.358535
0.493499	1.358486
0.494342	1.358438
0.495186	1.35839
0.496032	1.358342
0.496879	1.358295
0.497727	1.358247
0.498577	1.3582
0.499429	1.358153
0.500281	1.358106
0.501136	1.358059
0.501992	1.358012
0.502849	1.357966
0.503708	1.35792
0.504568	1.357874
0.505429	1.357828
0.506293	1.357782
0.507157	1.357737
0.508023	1.357691
0.508891	1.357646
0.50976	1.357601
0.51063	1.357556
0.511502	1.357512
0.512376	1.357467
0.513251	1.357423
0.514127	1.357379
0.515005	1.357335
0.515885	1.357291
0.516766	1.357248
0.517648	1.357204
0.518532	1.357161
0.519418	1.357118
0.520305	1.357075
0.521193	1.357032
0.522084	1.35699
0.522975	1.356947
0.523868	1.356905
0.524763	1.356863
0.525659	1.356821
0.526557	1.356779
0.527456	1.356738
0.528357	1.356696
0.529259	1.356655
0.530163	1.356614
0.531068	1.356573
0.531975	1.356532
0.532884	1.356492
0.533794	1.356451
0.534705	1.356411
0.535618	1.356371
0.536533	1.356331
0.537449	1.356291
0.538367	1.356251
0.539286	1.356212
0.540207	1.356173
0.54113	1.356133
0.542054	1.356094
0.54298	1.356056
0.543907	1.356017
0.544836	1.355978
0.545766	1.35594
0.546698	1.355902
0.547632	1.355863
0.548567	1.355825
0.549504	1.355788
0.550442	1.35575
0.551382	1.355712
0.552324	1.355675
0.553267	1.355638
0.554212	1.355601
0.555158	1.355564
0.556106	1.355527
0.557056	1.35549
0.558007	1.355454
0.55896	1.355418
0.559915	1.355381
0.560871	1.355345
0.561829	1.355309
0.562788	1.355274
0.563749	1.355238
0.564712	1.355203
0.565676	1.355167
0.566642	1.355132
0.56761	1.355097
0.568579	1.355062
0.56955	1.355027
0.570523	1.354993
0.571497	1.354958
0.572473	1.354924
0.573451	1.354889
0.57443	1.354855
0.575411	1.354821
0.576394	1.354788
0.577378	1.354754
0.578364	1.35472
0.579352	1.354687
0.580341	1.354654
0.581332	1.35462
0.582325	1.354587
0.58332	1.354555
0.584316	1.354522
0.585314	1.354489
0.586313	1.354457
0.587314	1.354424
0.588317	1.354392
0.589322	1.35436
0.590328	1.354328
0.591337	1.354296
0.592346	1.354264
0.593358	1.354233
0.594371	1.354201
0.595386	1.35417
0.596403	1.354139
0.597421	1.354108
0.598442	1.354077
0.599464	1.354046
0.600487	1.354015
0.601513	1.353984
0.60254	1.353954
0.603569	1.353924
0.6046	1.353893
0.605632	1.353863
0.606667	1.353833
0.607703	1.353803
0.60874	1.353774
0.60978	1.353744
0.610821	1.353715
0.611864	1.353685
0.612909	1.353656
0.613956	1.353627
0.615004	1.353598
0.616055	1.353569
0.617107	1.35354
0.618161	1.353511
0.619216	1.353483
0.620274	1.353454
0.621333	1.353426
0.622394	1.353398
0.623457	1.35337
0.624522	1.353342
0.625588	1.353314
0.626656	1.353286
0.627727	1.353259
0.628799	1.353231
0.629872	1.353204
0.630948	1.353176
0.632026	1.353149
0.633105	1.353122
0.634186	1.353095
0.635269	1.353068
0.636354	1.353041
0.637441	1.353015
0.638529	1.352988
0.63962	1.352962
0.640712	1.352935
0.641806	1.352909
0.642902	1.352883
0.644	1.352857

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: —

C₆H₁₄ (Hexane): all datasets

About C6H14 (Hexane)

Hexane (C₆H₁₄) is an alkane hydrocarbon with a straight chain of six carbon atoms. It appears as a colorless liquid that has a mild, gasoline-like odor. Volatile and highly flammable, hexane is often utilized as a solvent in laboratories due to its capability to dissolve non-polar substances. In the industrial realm, hexane is frequently used in the extraction of vegetable oils from crops such as soybeans. Its low polarity makes it ineffective for dissolving polar compounds but efficient for non-polar molecules. In optics, hexane can serve as a medium in certain experimental setups, benefiting from its defined refractive properties.

More about C6H14 (Hexane) →

Provenance

Version: 1 (snapshot c5c2f18)
Source page: refractiveindex.info
Original file: database/data/organic/C6H14 - hexane/nk/Kerl-293K.yml
ID: ds_d4f26baee0f0
API: /v1/datasets/ds_d4f26baee0f0

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