Optical constants

Refractive index of Rb (Rubidium)

Whang et al. 1972: n,k 0.117–0.380 µm

Data: tabulated nk
Range: 0.1165–0.38 µm
Points: 42
Licence: CC0-1.0

Axis Log x Log y

Click the plot to set the calculator wavelength.

At one wavelength

Refractive index n: 0.937347
Extinction coefficient k: 0.0773366

Permittivity ε₁: 0.872638
Permittivity ε₂: 0.144982

Absorption coefficient α: 46278.1 cm⁻¹
Penetration depth δ = λ/(2πk): 432.17 nm

Abbe number V_d: —
Chromatic dispersion dn/dλ: -1.18812 µm⁻¹

Group index n_g: 1.18685
Group velocity dispersion: — fs²/mm

Dispersion parameter D: — ps/(nm·km)
Photon energy: 5.90401 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

# Rb (Rubidium): Whang et al. 1972: n,k 0.117–0.380 µm
rb = ls.fetch_refractiveindex("main", "Rb", "Whang", ref="c5c2f188e848453def5970e347399d653df2ffc2")
print(rb.range_nm)  # (116.5, 380) nm
eps = rb.eps([210])  # 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_b991168ba508/lightsmith"
rb = ls.Tabulated.model_validate(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(url)))
print(rb.source)  # citation and provenance travel with the data

Any dataset here, as the library's Tabulated material (rb/whang-1972).

# ... load rb as above, then:
sim = ls.Simulation(
    particles=[ls.Particle(shape=ls.Sphere(radius_nm=50), material=rb)],
    medium_index=1.0,
    wavelengths=ls.WavelengthRange(start_nm=117, stop_nm=380, 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.

References

U. S. Whang, E. T. Arakawa, T. A. Callcott. Optical properties of Rb between 3.3 and 10.5 eV. Phys. Rev. B 5, 2118-2124 (1972)

doi:10.1103/physrevb.5.2118 Optical Properties of Rb between 3.3 and 10.5 eV, Physical Review B (1972)

Cite

U. S. Whang, E. T. Arakawa and T. A. Callcott. Optical Properties of Rb between 3.3 and 10.5 eV. Physical Review B, 5, 2118-2124 (1972), doi:10.1103/physrevb.5.2118; Data from the refractiveindex.info database (M. N. Polyanskiy, Sci. Data 11, 94 (2024), doi:10.1038/s41597-023-02898-2)

Data

42 rows as published

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

Rb (Rubidium), Whang et al. 1972: n,k 0.117–0.380 µm: n and k versus wavelength
λ (µm)	n	k
0.1165	1.041	0.027
0.1192	1.03	0.028
0.1218	1.03	0.03
0.1235	1.02	0.031
0.1254	1.02	0.033
0.128	1.02	0.035
0.132	1.01	0.038
0.1351	1.01	0.04
0.1399	1.0	0.044
0.1462	0.997	0.05
0.152	0.99	0.055
0.1543	0.988	0.057
0.1578	0.985	0.06
0.1606	0.983	0.062
0.1636	0.98	0.065
0.167	0.978	0.068
0.17	0.976	0.071
0.178	0.97	0.077
0.1837	0.965	0.08
0.1875	0.962	0.081
0.1942	0.955	0.081
0.2015	0.947	0.08
0.2044	0.944	0.079
0.2145	0.932	0.076
0.2214	0.928	0.073
0.2305	0.908	0.071
0.24	0.891	0.069
0.2461	0.877	0.07
0.2544	0.855	0.07
0.2613	0.837	0.072
0.275	0.79	0.075
0.2889	0.739	0.08
0.3	0.697	0.086
0.3105	0.648	0.093
0.3256	0.57	0.106
0.3359	0.51	0.119
0.3434	0.465	0.136
0.3563	0.385	0.179
0.362	0.35	0.211
0.3695	0.293	0.258
0.374	0.262	0.292
0.38	0.216	0.346

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: —

Rb (Rubidium): all datasets

About Rb (Rubidium)

Rubidium (Rb) is a soft, silvery-white metallic element that belongs to the alkali metal group of the periodic table. It is highly reactive, especially in the presence of water, producing rubidium hydroxide and releasing hydrogen gas. Due to its high reactivity, rubidium is usually stored in mineral oil or in an inert atmosphere to prevent it from reacting with moisture or oxygen in the air. Rubidium has a single naturally occurring stable isotope, Rb-85, but it also has a radioactive isotope, Rb-87, which is used in geology and archaeology for radiometric dating. Additionally, rubidium atoms have been employed in atomic clocks due to their precise resonance frequency, and they've played roles in advanced research areas like Bose-Einstein condensates. Because of its limited abundance and high reactivity, rubidium doesn't have extensive commercial applications, but it's utilized in some specialized areas such as vapor reference cells in atomic physics research.

More about Rb (Rubidium) →

Provenance

Version: 1 (snapshot c5c2f18)
Source page: refractiveindex.info
Original file: database/data/main/Rb/nk/Whang.yml
ID: ds_b991168ba508
API: /v1/datasets/ds_b991168ba508

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