Optical constants

Refractive index of ZnS (Zinc sulfide)

Debenham 1984: Cubic ZnS; n 0.405–13 µm

Data: formula 4
Range: 0.405–13 µm
State: crystalline
Licence: CC0-1.0

Axis Log x Log y

Click the plot to set the calculator wavelength.

At one wavelength

Refractive index n: 2.36768
Extinction coefficient k: 0

Permittivity ε₁: 5.6059
Permittivity ε₂: 0

Absorption coefficient α: 0 cm⁻¹
Penetration depth δ = λ/(2πk): — nm

Abbe number V_d: 15.43
Chromatic dispersion dn/dλ: -0.434986 µm⁻¹

Group index n_g: 2.62328
Group velocity dispersion: 984.906 fs²/mm

Dispersion parameter D: -5373.19 ps/(nm·km)
Photon energy: 2.11001 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

# ZnS (Zinc sulfide): Debenham 1984: Cubic ZnS; n 0.405–13 µm
zns = ls.fetch_refractiveindex("main", "ZnS", "Debenham", ref="c5c2f188e848453def5970e347399d653df2ffc2")
print(zns.range_nm)  # (405, 13000) nm
eps = zns.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_c1a05e0fdbf4/lightsmith"
zns = ls.Tabulated.model_validate(json.load(urllib.request.urlopen(url)))
print(zns.source)  # citation and provenance travel with the data

Any dataset here, as the library's Tabulated material (zns/debenham-1984).

# ... load zns as above, then:
sim = ls.Simulation(
    particles=[ls.Particle(shape=ls.Sphere(radius_nm=50), material=zns)],
    medium_index=1.0,
    wavelengths=ls.WavelengthRange(start_nm=405, 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"]).

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.

Dispersion formula

RefractiveIndex.INFO (formula 4), λ in µm

n^{2} = 8.393 + \frac{0.14383 λ^{0.0}}{λ^{2} - {0.2421}^{2.0}} + \frac{4430.99 λ^{0.0}}{λ^{2} - {36.71}^{2.0}}

Valid from 0.405 to 13.0 µm.

Coefficients as stored

C_i	Value
C1	8.393
C2	0.14383
C3	0.0
C4	0.2421
C5	2.0
C6	4430.99
C7	0.0
C8	36.71
C9	2.0

Comments and conditions

Cubic ZnS, 20 °C

References

1) M. Debenham. Refractive indices of zinc sulfide in the 0.405-13-µm wavelength range. Appl. Opt., 23, 2238-2239 (1984)
2) C. A. Klein. Room-temperature dispersion equations for cubic zinc sulfide. Appl. Opt. 25, 1873-1875 (1986)
*Ref. 2 provides a modified Sellmeier equation based on data from Ref. 1

doi:10.1364/ao.23.002238 Refractive indices of zinc sulfide in the 0405–13-μm wavelength range, Applied Optics (1984)
doi:10.1364/ao.25.001873 Room-temperature dispersion equations for cubic zinc sulfide, Applied Optics (1986)

Cite

Mary Debenham. Refractive indices of zinc sulfide in the 0405–13-μm wavelength range. Applied Optics, 23, 2238 (1984), doi:10.1364/ao.23.002238; Claude A. Klein. Room-temperature dispersion equations for cubic zinc sulfide. Applied Optics, 25, 1873 (1986), doi:10.1364/ao.25.001873; Data from the refractiveindex.info database (M. N. Polyanskiy, Sci. Data 11, 94 (2024), doi:10.1038/s41597-023-02898-2)

Data

Computed on 400 wavelengths, the same grid as the API and the library

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

ZnS (Zinc sulfide), Debenham 1984: Cubic ZnS; n 0.405–13 µm: n and k versus wavelength
λ (µm)	n
0.405	2.543432
0.408536	2.536295
0.412104	2.529392
0.415702	2.522713
0.419332	2.516249
0.422993	2.50999
0.426687	2.503927
0.430412	2.498052
0.43417	2.492358
0.437962	2.486836
0.441786	2.48148
0.445643	2.476283
0.449534	2.471239
0.45346	2.466342
0.457419	2.461587
0.461413	2.456967
0.465442	2.452478
0.469506	2.448115
0.473606	2.443874
0.477741	2.439749
0.481913	2.435737
0.48612	2.431834
0.490365	2.428036
0.494647	2.424339
0.498966	2.42074
0.503323	2.417235
0.507718	2.413822
0.512151	2.410497
0.516623	2.407257
0.521134	2.4041
0.525684	2.401022
0.530274	2.398022
0.534904	2.395097
0.539575	2.392245
0.544286	2.389462
0.549039	2.386748
0.553833	2.3841
0.558669	2.381516
0.563547	2.378994
0.568468	2.376532
0.573431	2.374128
0.578438	2.371781
0.583489	2.369489
0.588584	2.367251
0.593723	2.365065
0.598907	2.362929
0.604137	2.360842
0.609412	2.358803
0.614733	2.35681
0.620101	2.354862
0.625515	2.352958
0.630977	2.351096
0.636487	2.349277
0.642044	2.347497
0.64765	2.345757
0.653306	2.344055
0.65901	2.34239
0.664764	2.340761
0.670569	2.339168
0.676424	2.337609
0.68233	2.336083
0.688288	2.334591
0.694298	2.33313
0.70036	2.3317
0.706476	2.3303
0.712644	2.32893
0.718867	2.327589
0.725144	2.326275
0.731476	2.324989
0.737863	2.32373
0.744305	2.322497
0.750805	2.321289
0.75736	2.320106
0.763973	2.318947
0.770644	2.317811
0.777373	2.316699
0.784161	2.315609
0.791008	2.314542
0.797915	2.313495
0.804882	2.31247
0.81191	2.311465
0.818999	2.310481
0.82615	2.309515
0.833364	2.308569
0.840641	2.307642
0.847981	2.306733
0.855385	2.305841
0.862854	2.304967
0.870388	2.304111
0.877988	2.30327
0.885655	2.302446
0.893388	2.301638
0.901189	2.300846
0.909058	2.300068
0.916995	2.299306
0.925002	2.298558
0.933079	2.297825
0.941226	2.297105
0.949445	2.296399
0.957735	2.295706
0.966098	2.295027
0.974533	2.29436
0.983043	2.293705
0.991626	2.293063
1.00028	2.292433
1.00902	2.291814
1.01783	2.291207
1.02672	2.290611
1.03568	2.290026
1.04472	2.289452
1.05385	2.288888
1.06305	2.288335
1.07233	2.287791
1.08169	2.287258
1.09114	2.286734
1.10067	2.28622
1.11028	2.285714
1.11997	2.285218
1.12975	2.284731
1.13962	2.284252
1.14957	2.283782
1.1596	2.28332
1.16973	2.282867
1.17994	2.282421
1.19025	2.281983
1.20064	2.281553
1.21112	2.28113
1.2217	2.280714
1.23237	2.280306
1.24313	2.279905
1.25398	2.27951
1.26493	2.279122
1.27597	2.278741
1.28712	2.278367
1.29836	2.277998
1.30969	2.277636
1.32113	2.27728
1.33266	2.27693
1.3443	2.276585
1.35604	2.276247
1.36788	2.275914
1.37982	2.275586
1.39187	2.275263
1.40402	2.274946
1.41628	2.274634
1.42865	2.274327
1.44112	2.274025
1.45371	2.273727
1.4664	2.273435
1.4792	2.273147
1.49212	2.272863
1.50515	2.272584
1.51829	2.272308
1.53155	2.272038
1.54492	2.271771
1.55841	2.271508
1.57202	2.271249
1.58575	2.270994
1.59959	2.270743
1.61356	2.270495
1.62765	2.270251
1.64186	2.270011
1.6562	2.269774
1.67066	2.26954
1.68525	2.269309
1.69996	2.269082
1.7148	2.268858
1.72978	2.268637
1.74488	2.268418
1.76012	2.268203
1.77549	2.26799
1.79099	2.26778
1.80663	2.267573
1.8224	2.267369
1.83831	2.267167
1.85437	2.266967
1.87056	2.26677
1.88689	2.266575
1.90337	2.266383
1.91999	2.266192
1.93675	2.266004
1.95366	2.265818
1.97072	2.265634
1.98793	2.265452
2.00529	2.265272
2.0228	2.265093
2.04046	2.264917
2.05828	2.264742
2.07625	2.264569
2.09438	2.264397
2.11266	2.264227
2.13111	2.264059
2.14972	2.263892
2.16849	2.263727
2.18742	2.263562
2.20652	2.2634
2.22579	2.263238
2.24523	2.263078
2.26483	2.262918
2.28461	2.26276
2.30455	2.262603
2.32468	2.262447
2.34498	2.262292
2.36545	2.262138
2.38611	2.261984
2.40694	2.261832
2.42796	2.26168
2.44916	2.261529
2.47054	2.261378
2.49211	2.261229
2.51387	2.261079
2.53582	2.260931
2.55797	2.260782
2.5803	2.260634
2.60283	2.260487
2.62556	2.26034
2.64849	2.260193
2.67161	2.260046
2.69494	2.2599
2.71847	2.259754
2.74221	2.259607
2.76615	2.259461
2.7903	2.259315
2.81467	2.259169
2.83924	2.259023
2.86404	2.258877
2.88904	2.25873
2.91427	2.258583
2.93972	2.258436
2.96539	2.258289
2.99128	2.258141
3.0174	2.257993
3.04374	2.257845
3.07032	2.257696
3.09713	2.257546
3.12417	2.257396
3.15145	2.257245
3.17897	2.257093
3.20673	2.256941
3.23473	2.256788
3.26297	2.256634
3.29146	2.25648
3.3202	2.256324
3.34919	2.256167
3.37844	2.25601
3.40794	2.255851
3.4377	2.255691
3.46771	2.25553
3.49799	2.255367
3.52853	2.255204
3.55934	2.255039
3.59042	2.254873
3.62177	2.254705
3.6534	2.254536
3.6853	2.254365
3.71748	2.254192
3.74994	2.254018
3.78268	2.253843
3.81571	2.253665
3.84903	2.253486
3.88264	2.253304
3.91654	2.253121
3.95074	2.252936
3.98523	2.252749
4.02003	2.252559
4.05513	2.252368
4.09054	2.252174
4.12626	2.251978
4.16229	2.251779
4.19863	2.251578
4.23529	2.251375
4.27227	2.251169
4.30958	2.25096
4.34721	2.250748
4.38516	2.250534
4.42345	2.250317
4.46208	2.250097
4.50104	2.249874
4.54034	2.249648
4.57999	2.249419
4.61998	2.249187
4.66032	2.248951
4.70101	2.248712
4.74206	2.24847
4.78346	2.248223
4.82523	2.247974
4.86736	2.24772
4.90986	2.247463
4.95274	2.247202
4.99598	2.246937
5.0396	2.246668
5.08361	2.246395
5.128	2.246118
5.17277	2.245836
5.21794	2.24555
5.2635	2.245259
5.30946	2.244964
5.35582	2.244663
5.40259	2.244359
5.44976	2.244049
5.49735	2.243734
5.54535	2.243414
5.59377	2.243088
5.64261	2.242758
5.69188	2.242421
5.74158	2.24208
5.79171	2.241732
5.84228	2.241379
5.8933	2.241019
5.94475	2.240654
5.99666	2.240282
6.04902	2.239904
6.10184	2.239519
6.15512	2.239128
6.20887	2.238729
6.26308	2.238324
6.31777	2.237912
6.37293	2.237493
6.42858	2.237066
6.48471	2.236631
6.54133	2.236189
6.59845	2.235739
6.65606	2.235281
6.71418	2.234815
6.77281	2.23434
6.83195	2.233857
6.8916	2.233365
6.95178	2.232864
7.01248	2.232354
7.07371	2.231834
7.13547	2.231305
7.19778	2.230767
7.26063	2.230218
7.32402	2.229659
7.38798	2.22909
7.45249	2.22851
7.51756	2.22792
7.5832	2.227318
7.64941	2.226705
7.7162	2.22608
7.78358	2.225444
7.85154	2.224795
7.9201	2.224135
7.98926	2.223461
8.05902	2.222775
8.12939	2.222076
8.20037	2.221363
8.27197	2.220636
8.3442	2.219895
8.41706	2.21914
8.49055	2.21837
8.56469	2.217586
8.63947	2.216785
8.71491	2.215969
8.79101	2.215137
8.86777	2.214289
8.9452	2.213424
9.0233	2.212541
9.10209	2.211641
9.18157	2.210723
9.26174	2.209787
9.34261	2.208832
9.42419	2.207857
9.50648	2.206863
9.58948	2.205849
9.67322	2.204813
9.75768	2.203757
9.84288	2.202679
9.92883	2.201579
10.0155	2.200456
10.103	2.19931
10.1912	2.19814
10.2802	2.196946
10.3699	2.195726
10.4605	2.194481
10.5518	2.19321
10.644	2.191912
10.7369	2.190586
10.8306	2.189232
10.9252	2.187849
11.0206	2.186436
11.1168	2.184993
11.2139	2.183518
11.3118	2.182011
11.4106	2.180472
11.5102	2.178898
11.6107	2.17729
11.7121	2.175646
11.8144	2.173966
11.9175	2.172248
12.0216	2.170492
12.1266	2.168696
12.2325	2.166859
12.3393	2.164981
12.447	2.163059
12.5557	2.161093
12.6653	2.159082
12.7759	2.157025
12.8875	2.154919
13	2.152764

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: —

ZnS (Zinc sulfide): all datasets

Crystal

Thin film

Amotchkina et al, 2020: n 0.4–14 µm, k 0.4–1.0 µm n,k 0.4–14 µm

Models and simulations

Ozaki and Adachi 1993: Cubic ZnS; n,k 0.221–1.03 µm n,k 0.2214–1.033 µm

About ZnS (Zinc sulfide)

Zinc sulfide (ZnS) is a semiconducting material that exhibits either a sphalerite (cubic) or wurtzite (hexagonal) crystal structure. It has a direct bandgap of around 3.68 eV for the cubic form and 3.91 eV for the hexagonal form. Due to its luminescent properties, ZnS has been extensively used in applications like electroluminescent panels, X-ray screens, and phosphorescent materials. Doped ZnS, especially with copper or silver, can produce phosphorescent materials widely used in various displays. ZnS is also employed as a host matrix in many quantum dot applications. Additionally, its infrared transmission capability makes it valuable for infrared optics, and it's frequently used in infrared windows and lenses. Minerals: Sphalerite (mineral of cubic ZnS), Wurtzite (mineral of hexagonal ZnS)

More about ZnS (Zinc sulfide) →

Provenance

Version: 1 (snapshot c5c2f18)
Source page: refractiveindex.info
Original file: database/data/main/ZnS/nk/Debenham.yml
ID: ds_c1a05e0fdbf4
API: /v1/datasets/ds_c1a05e0fdbf4

Plot