Optical constants
Refractive index of Li (Lithium)
Mathewson and Myers 1971: n,k 0.326–1.77 µm; 298 K
- Data
- tabulated nk
- Range
- 0.3263–1.771 µm
- Points
- 63
- Temperature
- 298 K
- Licence
- CC0-1.0
Plot
Click the plot to set the calculator wavelength.
At one wavelength
- Refractive index n
- 0.146391
- Extinction coefficient k
- 2.81392
- Permittivity ε1
- -7.89672
- Permittivity ε2
- 0.823867
- Absorption coefficient α
- 601783 cm⁻¹
- Penetration depth δ = λ/(2πk)
- 33.2346 nm
- Abbe number Vd
- —
- Chromatic dispersion dn/dλ
- 0.0495266 µm⁻¹
- Group index ng
- 0.11729
- 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
# Li (Lithium): Mathewson and Myers 1971: n,k 0.326–1.77 µm; 298 K
li = ls.fetch_refractiveindex("main", "Li", "Mathewson-298K", ref="c5c2f188e848453def5970e347399d653df2ffc2")
print(li.range_nm) # (326.27, 1771.2) nm
eps = li.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_c51fe5186d39/lightsmith"
li = ls.Tabulated.model_validate(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(url)))
print(li.source) # citation and provenance travel with the data
Any dataset here, as the library's Tabulated material (li/mathewson-myers-1971-298k).
# ... load li as above, then:
sim = ls.Simulation(
particles=[ls.Particle(shape=ls.Sphere(radius_nm=50), material=li)],
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"]).
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
Conditions
- temperature
- 298 K
References
- doi:10.1088/0031-8949/4/6/009 Absolute Values of the Optical Constants of Some Pure Metals, Physica Scripta (1971)
Cite
A G Mathewson and H P Myers. Absolute Values of the Optical Constants of Some Pure Metals. Physica Scripta, 4, 291-292 (1971), doi:10.1088/0031-8949/4/6/009; Data from the refractiveindex.info database (M. N. Polyanskiy, Sci. Data 11, 94 (2024), doi:10.1038/s41597-023-02898-2)
Data
63 rows as published| λ (µm) | n | k |
|---|---|---|
| 0.32627 | 0.34301 | 1.38479 |
| 0.33062 | 0.3382 | 1.41929 |
| 0.33509 | 0.33429 | 1.43588 |
| 0.33968 | 0.33051 | 1.45232 |
| 0.3444 | 0.32328 | 1.48476 |
| 0.34925 | 0.31984 | 1.50077 |
| 0.35424 | 0.31649 | 1.51663 |
| 0.35937 | 0.31009 | 1.54795 |
| 0.36466 | 0.30404 | 1.57875 |
| 0.3701 | 0.29531 | 1.60848 |
| 0.37571 | 0.28993 | 1.63831 |
| 0.38149 | 0.28191 | 1.66718 |
| 0.38745 | 0.27423 | 1.69564 |
| 0.3936 | 0.2697 | 1.72416 |
| 0.39995 | 0.26258 | 1.75184 |
| 0.40651 | 0.25378 | 1.79288 |
| 0.41328 | 0.24549 | 1.8331 |
| 0.42029 | 0.23668 | 1.85904 |
| 0.42753 | 0.22763 | 1.91097 |
| 0.43503 | 0.22207 | 1.93631 |
| 0.4428 | 0.21396 | 1.9864 |
| 0.45085 | 0.20635 | 2.03533 |
| 0.4592 | 0.19683 | 2.08297 |
| 0.46786 | 0.19016 | 2.12983 |
| 0.47686 | 0.18385 | 2.17573 |
| 0.48621 | 0.17389 | 2.24282 |
| 0.49594 | 0.16838 | 2.28656 |
| 0.50606 | 0.16165 | 2.35077 |
| 0.5166 | 0.15539 | 2.41333 |
| 0.52759 | 0.14953 | 2.47434 |
| 0.53906 | 0.14601 | 2.53403 |
| 0.55104 | 0.14359 | 2.61163 |
| 0.56356 | 0.14428 | 2.66849 |
| 0.57667 | 0.14585 | 2.74249 |
| 0.5904 | 0.14653 | 2.83222 |
| 0.6048 | 0.14817 | 2.90206 |
| 0.61992 | 0.14898 | 2.987 |
| 0.63582 | 0.15069 | 3.08589 |
| 0.65255 | 0.15243 | 3.1817 |
| 0.67018 | 0.15574 | 3.27479 |
| 0.6888 | 0.15828 | 3.3801 |
| 0.70848 | 0.16159 | 3.49659 |
| 0.72932 | 0.16422 | 3.62312 |
| 0.75142 | 0.16954 | 3.7455 |
| 0.7749 | 0.17282 | 3.87684 |
| 0.7999 | 0.17926 | 4.01648 |
| 0.82656 | 0.18374 | 4.16338 |
| 0.85506 | 0.18995 | 4.31695 |
| 0.8856 | 0.19721 | 4.48764 |
| 0.9184 | 0.20636 | 4.65216 |
| 0.95372 | 0.21524 | 4.8318 |
| 0.99187 | 0.22532 | 5.01505 |
| 1.0332 | 0.22874 | 5.26805 |
| 1.07812 | 0.24492 | 5.57315 |
| 1.12713 | 0.26222 | 5.85395 |
| 1.1808 | 0.27055 | 6.15412 |
| 1.23984 | 0.28997 | 6.51798 |
| 1.3051 | 0.31059 | 6.90626 |
| 1.3776 | 0.33455 | 7.30835 |
| 1.45864 | 0.35887 | 7.84403 |
| 1.5498 | 0.39382 | 8.41755 |
| 1.65312 | 0.44518 | 8.95143 |
| 1.7712 | 0.48911 | 9.60933 |
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
- —
298 K (24.85 °C)