Optical constants

Refractive index of Rb (Rubidium)

Ives and Briggs 1937: n,k 0.254–0.578 µm

Data
tabulated nk
Range
0.2536–0.578 µm
Points
9
Licence
CC0-1.0

Plot

Click the plot to set the calculator wavelength.

At one wavelength

Range 0.2536–0.578 µm
Refractive index n
0.395798
Extinction coefficient k
0.242909
Permittivity ε1
0.0976515
Permittivity ε2
0.192286
Absorption coefficient α
79699.4 cm⁻¹
Penetration depth δ = λ/(2πk)
250.943 nm
Abbe number Vd
—
Chromatic dispersion dn/dλ
-5.56675 µm⁻¹
Group index ng
2.52786
Group velocity dispersion
— fs²/mm
Dispersion parameter D
— ps/(nm·km)
Photon energy
3.23719 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

# Rb (Rubidium): Ives and Briggs 1937: n,k 0.254–0.578 µm
rb = ls.fetch_refractiveindex("main", "Rb", "Ives", ref="c5c2f188e848453def5970e347399d653df2ffc2")
print(rb.range_nm)  # (253.6, 578) nm
eps = rb.eps([383])  # 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.

References

H. E. Ives and H. B. Briggs. Optical constants of rubidium and cesium. J. Opt. Soc. Am. 27, 395-400 (1937)

Cite

Herbert E. Ives and H. B. Briggs. Optical Constants of Rubidium and Cesium. Journal of the Optical Society of America, 27, 395 (1937), doi:10.1364/josa.27.000395; Data from the refractiveindex.info database (M. N. Polyanskiy, Sci. Data 11, 94 (2024), doi:10.1038/s41597-023-02898-2)

Data

9 rows as published
Rb (Rubidium), Ives and Briggs 1937: n,k 0.254–0.578 µm: n and k versus wavelength
λ (µm)nk
0.25361.0310.056
0.30220.8330.071
0.31260.8140.078
0.33410.7450.09
0.3650.4960.135
0.40470.2750.373
0.43580.1810.636
0.54610.1571.05
0.5780.1641.19

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
—