List of refractive indices

Refraction at interface

Most of the materials have a well-characterized refractive index, but these indices often depend strongly upon the frequency of light, causing optical dispersion. Standard refractive index measurements are taken at the "yellow doublet" sodium D line, with a wavelength (λ) of 589 nanometers.

There are also weaker dependencies on temperature, pressure/stress, etc., as well on precise material compositions (presence of dopants, etc.); for many materials and typical conditions, however, these variations are at the percent level or less. Thus, it's especially important to cite the source for an index measurement if precision is required.

In general, an index of refraction is a complex number with both a real and imaginary part, where the latter indicates the strength of absorption loss at a particular wavelength—thus, the imaginary part is sometimes called the extinction coefficient <math>k</math>. Such losses become particularly significant, for example, in metals at short (e.g. visible) wavelengths, and must be included in any description of the refractive index.

Refraction, critical angle and total internal reflection of light at the interface between two media.

List

Some representative refractive indices

Name of material	λ (nm)	Refractive index no. n	Reference
Vacuum		1 (by definition)
Air at STP		1.000273	<ref>Template:Cite journal See fig. 1.</ref>
Gases at 0 °C and 1 atm
Air	589.29	1.000293	<ref name="ref1">Template:Cite book</ref>
Carbon dioxide	589.29	1.00045	<ref name="ref4">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="ref3">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="ref5">Template:Cite book</ref>
Helium	589.29	1.000036	<ref name="ref1"/>
Hydrogen	589.29	1.000132	<ref name="ref1"/>
Liquids at 20 °C
Arsenic trisulfide and sulfur in methylene iodide		1.9	<ref>Meyrowitz, R, A compilation and classification of immersion media of high index of refraction, American Mineralogist 40: 398 (1955)</ref>
Carbon disulfide	589.29	1.628	<ref name="ref1"/>
Benzene	589.29	1.501	<ref name="ref1"/>
Carbon tetrachloride	589.29	1.461	<ref name="ref1"/>
Silicone oil (nD25)	589.29	1.393–1.403	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Kerosene		1.44
Ethanol (ethyl alcohol)	589.29	1.361	<ref name="ref1"/>
Acetone		1.36
Water	589.29	1.333	<ref name="ref1"/>
10% glucose solution in water	589.29	1.3477	<ref name="Lide">Template:Cite book</ref>
20% glucose solution in water	589.29	1.3635	<ref name=Lide/>
60% glucose solution in water	589.29	1.4394	<ref name=Lide/>
Solids at room temperature
Silicon carbide (moissanite; 6H form)	589.29	2.65	<ref name=ioffe>Template:Cite web</ref>
Titanium dioxide (rutile phase)	589.29	2.614	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Diamond	589.29	2.417	<ref name="ref1"/>
Strontium titanate	589.29	2.41	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Tantalum pentoxide	589.29	2.15	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Amber	589.29	1.55	<ref name="ref1"/>
Sodium chloride	589.29	1.544	<ref name="ref8">Template:Cite book</ref>
Fused silica (a pure form of glass, also called fused quartz)	589.29	1.458	<ref name="ref1"/><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Other materials
Liquid helium		1.025
Perfluorohexane (Fluorinert FC-72)		1.251	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Water ice		1.31
TFE/PDD (Teflon AF)		1.315	<ref name="Teflon_AF">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Cryolite		1.338
Cytop		1.34	<ref name=Cytop>Template:Cite web</ref>
Polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon)		1.35–1.38	<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Sugar solution, 25%		1.3723	<ref name="refSugar">Template:Cite web</ref>
Cornea (human)		1.373/1.380/1.401	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Lens (human)		1.386–1.406
Liver (human)	964	1.369	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Intestinal mucosa (human)	964	1.329–1.338	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE)		1.403	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Sylgard 184 (polydimethylsiloxane)		1.4118	<ref name="Sylgard184">Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref>
Sugar solution, 50%		1.4200	<ref name="refSugar"/>
Polylactic acid		1.46	<ref name="PLA Optical">Template:Cite book</ref>
Pyrex (a borosilicate glass)		1.470	<ref name="ref2">Template:Cite web</ref>
Vegetable oil		1.47	<ref>Index Of Refraction Of Vegetable Oil, The Physics Factbook.</ref>
Glycerol		1.4729
Sugar solution, 75%		1.4774	<ref name="refSugar"/>
Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)		1.4893–1.4899
Halite (rock salt)		1.516
Plate glass (window glass)		1.52	<ref name=seward>"High temperature glass melt property database for process modeling"; Eds.: Thomas P. Seward III and Terese Vascott; The American Ceramic Society, Westerville, Ohio, 2005, Template:ISBN</ref>
Crown glass (pure)		1.50–1.54
PETg		1.57
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)		1.5750
Polycarbonate	150	1.60	<ref>C. R. Garcia, J. Correa, D. Espalin, J. H. Barton, R. C. Rumpf, R. Wicker, V. Gonzalez, "3D Printing of Anisotropic Metamaterials," PIER Lett, Vol. 34, pp. 75–82, 2012.</ref>
Crown glass (impure)		1.485–1.755
Flint glass (pure)		1.60–1.62
Bromine		1.661
Flint glass (impure)		1.523–1.925
Sapphire		1.762–1.778
Boron nitride		2–2.14	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Cubic zirconia		2.15–2.18	<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Potassium niobate (KNbO3)		2.28
Zinc oxide	390	2.4
Cinnabar (mercury sulfide)		3.02	Birefringent: nω = 2.905 nε = 3.256<ref name=gemsoc-ri-dr>Template:Cite web</ref>
Silicon	1200 - 8500	3.42–3.48	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Gallium(III) phosphide		3.5
Gallium(III) arsenide		3.927
Germanium	3000 - 16000	4.05–4.1	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• Sellmeier equation
• Corrective lens#Ophthalmic material property tables
• Optical properties of water and ice

External links

• International Association for the Properties of Water and Steam
• Ioffe institute, Russian Federation
• Crystran, United Kingdom
• Jena University, Germany
• Hyperphysics list of refractive indices
• Luxpop: Index of refraction values and photonics calculations
• Kaye and Laby Online Provided by the National Physical Laboratory, UK
• Template:Usurped