Optical constants
Refractive index of Kapton
Kumar et al. 2011: n 0.41–0.65 µm, k 0.49–0.78 µm
- Data
- tabulated n + tabulated k
- Range
- 0.41–0.65 µm
- Points
- 25
- Licence
- CC0-1.0
Plot
Click the plot to set the calculator wavelength. Note: k data cover 490-780 nm only; k = 0 elsewhere in the n range 410-650 nm.
At one wavelength
- Refractive index n
- 1.75079
- Extinction coefficient k
- 0.00056627
- Permittivity ε1
- 3.06527
- Permittivity ε2
- 0.00198284
- Absorption coefficient α
- 121.102 cm⁻¹
- Penetration depth δ = λ/(2πk)
- 165150 nm
- Abbe number Vd
- —
- Chromatic dispersion dn/dλ
- -0.238 µm⁻¹
- Group index ng
- 1.89064
- 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
# Kapton: Kumar et al. 2011: n 0.41–0.65 µm, k 0.49–0.78 µm
kapton = ls.fetch_refractiveindex("other", "Kapton", "Kumar", ref="c5c2f188e848453def5970e347399d653df2ffc2")
print(kapton.range_nm) # (410, 650) nm
eps = kapton.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_6f909b4e5723/lightsmith"
kapton = ls.Tabulated.model_validate(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(url)))
print(kapton.source) # citation and provenance travel with the data
Any dataset here, as the library's Tabulated material (kapton/kumar-2011).
# ... load kapton as above, then:
sim = ls.Simulation(
particles=[ls.Particle(shape=ls.Sphere(radius_nm=50), material=kapton)],
medium_index=1.0,
wavelengths=ls.WavelengthRange(start_nm=410, stop_nm=650, 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"]).
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
- k data cover 490-780 nm only; k = 0 elsewhere in the n range 410-650 nm
References
Cite
V. Kumar, P. Goyal, R. Gupta, S. Kumar. Tailoring of optical band gap and refractive index of heat treated Kapton-H Polyimide. Adv. Appl. Sci. Res. 2 79-85; Data from the refractiveindex.info database (M. N. Polyanskiy, Sci. Data 11, 94 (2024), doi:10.1038/s41597-023-02898-2)
Data
Computed on 25 wavelengths, the same grid as the API and the library| λ (µm) | n | k |
|---|---|---|
| 0.41 | 1.82786 | 0 |
| 0.42 | 1.81675 | 0 |
| 0.43 | 1.81085 | 0 |
| 0.44 | 1.80084 | 0 |
| 0.45 | 1.79454 | 0 |
| 0.46 | 1.78773 | 0 |
| 0.47 | 1.78375 | 0 |
| 0.48 | 1.7765 | 0 |
| 0.49 | 1.77418 | 0.00292399 |
| 0.5 | 1.77209 | 0.00265162 |
| 0.51 | 1.76599 | 0.0021805 |
| 0.52 | 1.76249 | 0.00174471 |
| 0.53 | 1.75992 | 0.00140779 |
| 0.54 | 1.75749 | 0.00112433 |
| 0.55 | 1.75743 | 0.000934269 |
| 0.56 | 1.75558 | 0.000797926 |
| 0.57 | 1.75273 | 0.000693806 |
| 0.58 | 1.7526 | 0.000611706 |
| 0.59 | 1.75022 | 0.000551922 |
| 0.6 | 1.74768 | 0.000494128 |
| 0.61 | 1.74647 | 0.000446497 |
| 0.62 | 1.74512 | 0.000407049 |
| 0.63 | 1.74522 | 0.000366553 |
| 0.64 | 1.74266 | 0.000337733 |
| 0.65 | 1.74032 | 0.000304449 |
Optical transmission calculator
Free-standing sample in vacuum, normal incidence- Transmittance T
- —
- Reflectance R
- —
Fresnel reflection calculator
- Rp
- —
- Rs
- —
- R = (Rp+Rs)/2
- —
- Phase φp
- —
- Phase φs
- —
- Brewster angle θB
- —
- Critical angle θC
- —
Kapton-H polyimide