Optical constants

Refractive index of Soda lime glass

Rubin 1985: Far-infared; n,k 5–300 µm

Data
tabulated nk
Range
5–300 µm
Points
54
Licence
CC0-1.0

Plot

Click the plot to set the calculator wavelength.

At one wavelength

Range 5–300 µm
Refractive index n
1.96666
Extinction coefficient k
0.46984
Permittivity ε1
3.647
Permittivity ε2
1.84803
Absorption coefficient α
1525.63 cm⁻¹
Penetration depth δ = λ/(2πk)
13109.3 nm
Abbe number Vd
—
Chromatic dispersion dn/dλ
0.0018 µm⁻¹
Group index ng
1.897
Group velocity dispersion
— fs²/mm
Dispersion parameter D
— ps/(nm·km)
Photon energy
0.0320373 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

# Soda lime glass: Rubin 1985: Far-infared; n,k 5–300 µm
soda_lime = ls.fetch_refractiveindex("glass", "soda-lime", "Rubin-IR", ref="c5c2f188e848453def5970e347399d653df2ffc2")
print(soda_lime.range_nm)  # (5000, 300000) nm
eps = soda_lime.eps([38700])  # 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.

Comments and conditions

Soda lime silica window glass in the far-infrared. Opticsl constants are same for clear, colored (bronze, grey, green) and low-iron glass.

References

M. Rubin. Optical properties of soda lime silica glasses. Sol. Energy Mater. 12, 275-288 (1985)

Cite

M. Rubin. Optical properties of soda lime silica glasses. Solar Energy Materials, 12, 275-288 (1985), doi:10.1016/0165-1633(85)90052-8; Data from the refractiveindex.info database (M. N. Polyanskiy, Sci. Data 11, 94 (2024), doi:10.1038/s41597-023-02898-2)

Data

54 rows as published
Soda lime glass, Rubin 1985: Far-infared; n,k 5–300 µm: n and k versus wavelength
λ (µm)nk
5.01.3970.003
6.01.3230.005
7.01.1520.008
8.00.9390.028
8.20.8220.061
8.40.6240.216
8.50.6130.354
8.70.6840.543
9.00.7360.759
9.20.8120.938
9.40.9711.123
9.51.0851.187
9.61.2091.232
9.81.4791.24
10.01.7071.123
10.51.9560.809
11.01.9940.485
11.51.8640.286
12.01.7330.222
12.51.6120.244
13.01.6060.306
13.51.6150.304
14.01.6150.28
14.51.5580.269
15.01.5540.299
15.51.5460.288
16.01.5110.278
16.51.4680.288
17.01.4330.309
17.51.4010.322
18.01.3280.329
18.51.2160.382
19.01.1080.521
19.51.0690.76
20.01.1770.966
21.01.5191.223
22.01.9311.216
23.02.1960.988
24.02.2630.746
25.02.2230.582
27.02.1390.462
30.02.0350.381
35.01.960.421
40.01.9690.487
45.02.0330.538
50.02.0990.545
60.02.1990.536
70.02.2740.515
80.02.3330.493
90.02.3840.47
100.02.4260.445
150.02.5470.326
200.02.5920.242
300.02.6080.152

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
—