Eur. Phys. J.

B (2021) 94 :139
[Link]
THE EUROPEAN
PHYSICAL JOURNAL B
Regular Article - Solid State and Materials

Dependence of the refractive index on density,

temperature, and the wavelength of the incident light
C. Z. Tana

Bowei Geophysics Ltd., Xiangtan National High-Tech Center, 411104 Xiangtan, Hunan, People’s Republic of China

Received 6 May 2021 / Accepted 22 June 2021 / Published online 9 July 2021
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, SIF and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany,
part of Springer Nature 2021

Abstract. The refractive index of dielectrics is a function of the density, temperature, and the wavelength
of the incident light. The refractive index and material dispersion are determined by the plasma and the
resonance frequencies. Physically, the forced oscillation of an induced dipole is driven by the light wave,
vibrating in the plane perpendicular to the propagation direction of light. The incident light is absorbed at
the resonance frequency. In this case, the induced dipole is transformed into independent neutral oscillator
(atom). Yet, the forced oscillation of the dipole and the thermal motion of the atom have different vibration
modes. Each mode carries out thermal energy. The incident light should overcome the thermal energy to
excite the vibration modes of the dipoles. These features lead to the temperature-dependent plasma and
resonance frequencies, and consequently yield the temperature-dependent refractive index and material
dispersion. Moreover, the change of refractive index with temperature is found to relate with specific heat
capacity. The proposed approach is applied for analyzing the refractive index of silica glass.

1 Introduction The incident light is absorbed at the resonance fre-

quency. In this case, the induced dipoles are trans-
The refractive index is one of the most important opti- formed into independent neutral oscillators (atoms).
cal properties, which is a function of temperature, pres- However, the oscillation of the dipole and the thermal
sure (or density), and the frequency of the incident light motion of the atom have different vibration modes. An
[1–4]. It is found that a square of the refractive index incident light wave has two perpendicular electric field
is proportional to a product of the density and the components, and hence two independent polarizations
mean polarizability [3,5,6]. The volume expansion and [13], while an atom has three normal vibration modes
the temperature coefficients of the polarizability lead to in solid [14].
the temperature-dependent refractive index [3,7]. The Thermal vibrations in dielectrics are thermally
mean polarizability itself is a function of the resonance excited phonons [15]. Each vibration mode has the
frequency and the frequency of the incident light [8]. phonon energy. When a substance is in equilibrium
Variation of the resonance frequency with volume or state at constant temperature, the thermal motions
density is normally given by a mode Grüneisen con- of the atoms are in random phase. Consequently, the
stant [3,8,9]. The dependence of the refractive index phonon energy forms an energy barrier for propagation
and material dispersion on temperature, density, and of the electromagnetic waves. Hence, a certain mini-
the frequency of the incident light is usually described mum energy is required for the incident light to excite
in terms of the mean polarizability, the volume expan- the vibration modes of the induced dipoles. This char-
sion coefficient, and the temperature coefficient of the acter leads to the temperature-dependent plasma and
polarizability [3,8,10]. resonance frequencies. Analyzing the dependence of the
Propagation of an electromagnetic wave through the refractive index and material dispersion on tempera-
medium is associated with radiation of the dipoles ture and density has not only technical importance,
[11,12]. The incident photon induces the collective oscil- but also theoretical significance for exploring the inter-
lations of the oppositely charged electrons and the ion action of light with electron and nucleus. In contrast
cores (nuclei) in the plane perpendicular to the propa- with the previous model, we discuss this problem within
gation direction of light. The refractive index and mate- the framework of quantum mechanics. The proposed
rial dispersion are related to the plasma and the reso- approach is used to analyze the refractive index of sil-
nance frequencies [10,11]. ica glass.

a
e-mail: bowei geophysics@[Link] (corresponding
author)

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2 Material dispersion where n is the refractive index at the frequency ω, and

ωpT is referred to as the plasma frequency at temper-
2
It has been experimentally confirmed that light is the ature T [1,12,14,16], ωpT = N e2 /(ε0 me ). The plasma
transverse electromagnetic wave [11,16]. The motion of frequency is proportional to the square root of N , or
a bound electron in the medium is driven by the Lorentz the mass density of the medium.
force resulted from the electromagnetic field of the inci- A plasma is a medium with equal concentration of
dent light [11]. Two normal and independent polariza- positive and negative charges. In a solid, the negative
tions are induced by relative displacements of the elec- charges of the conduction electrons are mobile, and are
trons and nuclei from their equilibrium positions. balanced by an equal concentration of positive charge
Suppose the incident light propagates in the x- of the ion cores [14]. A plasma oscillation is a collective
direction. The two perpendicular polarizations are then excitation of the conduction electrons, and a plasmon
in the y- and z-directions. The induced dipole is com- is a quantum of a plasma oscillation [14]. Notice an
posed of the relatively displaced electron and nucleus. incident photon has two independent polarizations [13].
Hence, four charged particles (two electrons and two It induces two independent dipoles. Hence, the incident
nuclei) are excited by the incident photon. There are photon is coupled with two electrons and two ion cores
consequently four vibration modes in the yz -plane in (nuclei) to form a quasi-particle. In this regard, such a
response to the incident photon. quasi-particle may be referred to as a volume plasmon.
At the resonance frequency vT , the energy of light Alternatively, Eq. (4) can be written as
is absorbed. The induced dipoles are then trans-
formed into two independent linear oscillators (atoms).  2  2
1 c 1 vT
Each independent oscillator has three normal vibration =− + , (5)
modes, and as a whole six modes for two atoms. n2 − 1 vpT λ2 vpT
Interaction of light with dielectrics is generally
described by the forced motion of the harmonic oscil- where νpT = ωpT /(2π), and λ = 2πc/ω.
lators [11,16]. When the light wave impinges on the As depicted in Eq. (5), the refractive index and
medium, each atom can be thought of as the forced material dispersion are determined by the plasma and
oscillator, being driven by the time-varying electric the resonance frequencies. Accordingly, a straight line
field. should be demonstrated in a plot of (n2 − 1)−1 ver-
The vector of the incident electric field can be divided sus λ−2 . The linear relationship has a simple form:
into two perpendicular components. For polarization in (n2 − 1)−1 = a + bλ−2 , where a and b are the inter-
the y-direction, as for example, the relative displace- cept and the slope, respectively. The terms a and b are
ment y of an electron of the mass me and the charge e given by
from an ion core is described by the following differen-
tial equation [10–12]:  2
νT
a= , (6)
vpT
d2 y  2
me 2 + me ωT2 y = eEy (t), (1) c
dt b=− . (7)
vpT
where ωT (ωT = 2πvT ) is the angular resonance fre-
quency at temperature T . Let ω(ω = 2πv) be an angu- Equation (5) is widely used to describe the dispersion
lar frequency of the electric field component: Ey (t) = in the ultraviolet (UV) and visible (VIS) regions [10–
E0 exp(iωt). The solution of Eq. (1) then has a form 12]. We discuss the dependence of the refractive index
on temperature and density by means of Eq. (5).
eEy (t) Transmission, reflection, and refraction are basic
y(t) = . (2) optical phenomena. Light wave in vacuum carries out
me (ωT2 − ω 2 )
only kinetic energy. It travels at the speed c regard-
less of the frequency. However, when the light wave
The polarization Py in the y-direction is defined as the is incident into the medium, the induced dipole has
dipole moment per unit volume [10–12] both kinetic and the potential energies. The wave veloc-
ity becomes c/n. After incidence and transmission, the
Py = ε0 (ε − 1)Ey (t) = N ey(t), (3) change in the phase velocity is reversible, which is
related to the radiation of the dipoles.
where ε0 is the permittivity of free space, ε is the dielec-
tric constant, and N denotes the number density of elec-
trons. Combining Eqs. (2), (3), and applying Maxwell’s
relation: ε = n2 , one obtains one-term Sellmeier disper- 3 Temperature-dependent plasma and
sion formula [10–12] resonance frequencies
1 1   In quantum mechanics, the energies of the plasmon
= 2 ωT2 − ω 2 , (4)
n2 −1 ωpT and the linear oscillator at the frequencies vpT and

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Eur. Phys. J. B (2021) 94 :139 Page 3 of 9 139

vT are given by hv pT and hv T , respectively; here, h

is Planck’s constant. When a substance is in thermal
equilibrium state at temperature T , the neutral oscilla-
tor (atom) has thermal energy. Thermal vibrations in
the dielectric are thermally excited phonons [15]. Each
vibration mode has the phonon energy. Note that the
thermal motions of the atoms have the random phases.
The thermal energy thus forms a “white noise”, or an
energy barrier for propagation of the electromagnetic
waves. Hence, a certain minimum energy is required for
the incident light to excite the vibration modes of the
dipoles.
The thermal energy E is equal to an average energy
of an assemblage of oscillators. The energy spectrum of
the linear harmonic oscillator at the frequency vosc is
given by [13–15]
  Fig. 1 Plots of (n2 -1)−1 versus λ−2 at different wave-
1 lengths for silica glasses of different densities. Experimental
Ei = i+ hvosc , (8)
2 data (symbols) are taken from Ref. [20]

where i is a positive integer or zero. The term hv osc /2

is called the zero point energy. The average energy of where vp0 is the plasma frequency at absolute zero.
the assemblage of oscillators is given by Planck’s distri- In particular, the resonance and the plasma fre-
bution function quencies become zero at the temperatures satisfying
hv0 − 3hvosc = 6hvosc /{exp[hvosc /(kB T )] − 1}, and
hvosc hv hvp0 − 2hvosc = 4hvosc /{exp[hvosc /(kB T )] − 1}, respec-
E= +  osc , (9) tively. The difference between hv T and vpT is given by
2 exp hv osc
kB T − 1
2hvosc
hvpT − hvT = (hvp0 − hv0 + hvosc ) +   .
where kB is Boltzmann’s constant. Equation (9) indi- exp hvosc
−1
kB T
cates that E is a function of temperature.
The incident light is absorbed at the resonance fre- (12)
quency. In this case, the induced dipoles in the y- and
z-directions are transformed into two independent neu- Notice T is a common variable for hv T and hv pT .
tral oscillators (atoms). Each neutral oscillator has three Combining Eq. (10) with (11) and eliminating the
normal vibrations. Hence, a subsystem composed of the temperature-dependent terms, one has
two independent oscillators has six vibration modes.
The incident photon should overcome the thermal 3 3
energy to induce the dipoles. Notice six modes of the hvT = (hv0 − hvp0 ) + hvpT . (13)
2 2
two independent oscillators. Each mode has the thermal
energy E. Hence, the temperature-dependent quantum It is found that hv T is linearly proportional to hv pT ,
energy hv T is described by hvT = hv0 − 6E, where v0 is with a proportional factor 3/2, and a constant, hv 0 –
the resonance frequency at absolute zero. Consequently 3hvp0 /2.
from Eq. (9), we have Upon the proceeding discussion, one may find that
the temperature-dependent refractive index and mate-
6hv
hvT = (hv0 − 3hvosc ) −  osc . (10) rial dispersion are determined by three quantities, v0 ,
hvosc vp0 , and vosc , which all have physical significance.
exp kB T −1

The incident light has two independent polarizations in

the plane perpendicular to the propagation direction of 4 The change of refractive index with
light [13]. Each forced dipole is composed of the oppo- temperature and heat capacity
sitely charged electron and ion core. There are conse-
quently four vibration modes for a plasmon in response
to the incident photon. Accordingly, the temperature- Equation (5) indicates that the refractive index is
dependent plasma energy is given by hvpT = hvp0 −4E, determined by vpT and vT . Both hv pT and hv T fur-
or ther depend on the thermal energy E. As described
by Eq. (9), the thermal energy itself is a function
4hv of temperature. These allow one to suggest that the
hvpT = (hvp0 − 2hvosc ) −  osc , (11) change of refractive index with temperature, dn/dT, is
hvosc
exp kB T −1 related to specific heat capacity. Differentiating Eq. (5)

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Table 1 The intercept a and the slope b evaluated by plotting (n2 - 1)−1 versus λ−2 at wavelengths in ultraviolet and
visible regions for silica glass: (n2 - 1)−1 = a + bλ−2

ρ ( g/cm3 ) a -b( μ m2 ) hv pT (×10−18 J) hνT (×10−18 J) Note

2.2003 0.908630(10) 0.007730(9) 2.2594(13) 2.1537(13) [20] at 298K
2.2047 0.906460(10) 0.007710(9) .2623(13) 2.1539(13) [20]
2.2091 0.904360(10) 0.007700(9) 2.2638(13) 2.1528(13) [20]
2.2130 0.902500(10) 0.007680(9) 2.2667(13) 2.1534(13) [20]
2.2173 0.900460(10) 0.007670(9) 2.2682(13) 2.1523(13) [20]
2.6480 0.74076(14) 0.006330(12) 2.4968(24) 2.1489(22) [12] α-SiO2
T (K)
107.8 0.91124(10) 0.007680(9) 2.2667(13) 2.1638(14) [19]
161.9 0.91071(13) 0.007700(11) 2.2638(16) 2.1603(17) [19]
229.8 0.90977(16) 0.007710(13) 2.2623(19) 2.1578(20) [19]
275.7 0.90897(16) 0.007720(13) 2.2608(19) 2.1555(20) [19]
293.7 0.90864(16) 0.007730(13) 2.2594(19) 2.1537(20) [19]
318.4 0.90816(16) 0.007730(13) 2.2594(19) 2.1531(20) [19]
356.5 0.90737(16) 0.007750(13) 2.2565(19) 2.1494(20) [19]
299 0.90949(25) 0.007760(20) 2.2550(29) 2.1505(31) [17]
744 0.89800(34) 0.007950(30) 2.2279(39) 2.1112(41) [17]
1101 0.88888(33) 0.008060(27) 2.2126(37) 2.0861(39) [17]
The terms hv pT and hv T are calculated by means of Eqs. (6) and (7). The estimated errors are given in brackets. The
indices of refraction are taken from Refs. [17, 19, 20]. Results of α-SiO2 for o-ray are from [12]

with respect to temperature, and combining hvpT = All terms of n, dn/dT, Cv , a, and b in Eq. (16) are
hvp0 − 4E, and hvT = hv0 − 6E, one obtains measurable quantities. It is interesting to find that one
is able to calculate a product, NA hc, of the fundamental
  constants.
n dn 2 3vT 2 dE
= − 2 . (14) Only part of the vibration modes is active at low
(n2 − 1)2 dT hvpT vpT n −1 dT temperatures. However, all modes are excited at high
temperatures. According to the Dulong–Petit law, the
Equation (14) is a relationship connecting the opti- molar heat capacity approaches 3zN A kB , or 3zR with
cal and thermal properties. Assume that all oscillators increasing temperature, where R is the gas constant.
vibrate at the frequency vosc . The molar thermal energy Under this circumstance, the number of mode has the
is equal to qN A E, and the molar heat capacity Cv maximum value, 3z.
at constant volume is defined as Cv = qNA (dE /dT ),
where NA is the Avogadro constant, and q is the
number of vibration modes per molecule. Suppose the
molecule is composed of z atoms. The maximum num- 5 Refractive index and material dispersion
ber of vibrtion mode per molecule is given by qmax =
3z. Equation (14) then leads to a relationship connect-
of densified silica glass
ing n, dn/dT, and molar heat capacity Cv , which reads
as The refractive index of silica glass has been precisely
determined in a wide frequency range at different tem-
  peratures and pressures (or densities) [1–4,9,10,17–20].
n dn 2 3vT 2
2 2
= − 2 Cv . Silica glass can be permanently densified by different
(n − 1) dT qNA hvpT vpT n −1
means, as for example by high pressure [9,20–23], by
(15) fast neutron irradiation [24,25], and oxidation of Si at
low temperature [26]. It has been experimentally veri-
Equation (15) is independent of the wavelength, being fied that the impurities in silica glass, such as chlorine
valid for all indices of refraction in the UV and VIS and hydroxyl impurities, also affect the refractive index
regions. The change of refractive index with tem- and density [27,28].
perature is related to specific heat capacity. Notice The indices of refraction for silica glasses of differ-
lim Cv = 0. One has lim (dn/dT ) = 0. Alternatively, ent densities (from 2.2003 to 2.2173 g/cm3 ) have been
T →0 T →0 determined by Kitamura et al. in terms of the glass
Eq. (15) can be expressed in terms of a and b given by prisms, which were densified by means of the hot iso-
Eqs. (6) and (7) static pressing (HIP) method [20]. The refractive index
√   was measured at room temperature. Figure 1 shows the
n dn 2 −b √ 2 plots of (n2 –1)−1 versus λ−2 at wavelengths in the UV
= 3 a− 2 Cv . (16)
(n2 − 1)2 dT qNA hc n −1 and VIS regions. As depicted by Eq. (5), the straight

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Eur. Phys. J. B (2021) 94 :139 Page 5 of 9 139

Fig. 2 Plot of log(hv pT ) versus log(ρ) for silica glass (open Fig. 4 Plots of (n2 –1)−1 versus λ−2 for silica glass at rep-
circle) and for the ordinary wave (o-ray) in α-quartz (solid resentative temperatures. The indices of refraction at 107.8
square). The quantum energy hv pT for both glass and the and 356.5 K are taken from Ref. [19], and 744 and 1101 K
crystal obeys the same relationship are from Ref. [17]

[10], d ln(ωT )/d ln(ρ), is a negligibly small parameter;

here, ρ denotes the mass density.
2
Notice ωpT = N e2 /(ε0 me ), and N = ZNA ρ/A,
where Z is the number of the valence electrons per
molecule, and A is the molecular weight√ [10]. The quan-
tum energy hv pT is proportional to ρ, namely

he ZNA ρ
hvpT = . (17)
2π ε 0 me A

Accordingly, a straight line is demonstrated in a plot of

log(hv pT ) versus log(ρ), as the result shown in Fig. 2.
Although silica glass and α-quartz have different struc-
tures, the determined hv pT and ρ are shown to satisfy
the same relationship. The fitting result is given by
Fig. 3 Dependence of the refractive index on density of log[hvpT (×10−18 J)] = 0.16921(45) + 0.5395(13) log(ρ),
silica glass at λ = 0.5893 µm. The open circles represent the
experimental data from Refs. [9, 23], and the line denotes (18)
the theoretical result calculated by Eq. (5)
where ρ is in g/cm3 .
The evaluated slope of the line, 0.5395(13), is approx-
imately equal to 1/2,and the intercept,
 0.16921(45),
lines are demonstrated for different densities. The deter-
he ZNA
mined results for a, b, and hv pT and hv T evaluated by is equivalent to log 2π ε0 me A , as described by
Eqs. (6) and (7) are listed in Table 1. Eq. (17). Notice Z = 4 for SiO2 . The theoretical value
For comparison, the results of a, b, hv pT , and hv T he ZNA −18
for the ordinary wave (o-ray) in crystalline α-SiO2 (α- of 2π ε0 me A is 1.1921 × 10 J(cm3 /g)1/2 , which
quartz) are also given in Table 1. Although α-quartz is roughly in agreement with the determined result,
is uniaxial crystal, the refractive index no for the o- 1.4764 × 10−18 J(cm3 /g)1/2 .
ray wave propagating along the optic axis is optically Up to 16.5% densification (from 2.2021 to 2.5668
isotropic, i.e., no is independent of the polarization g/cm3 ) of silica glass has been achieved by high pres-
direction of light [12,16]. It is found that no for α-quartz sures at temperatures above 473 K. The indices of
and n of the silica glass satisfy the same relationship refraction of the densified glasses have been determined
between the refractive index and the density [9,10,23]. (λ = 0.5893 µm, NaD –line) at room temperature [9,23].
The evaluated results indicate that hv pT increases As shown in Fig. 3, the refractive index increases with
with increasing density. However, the value of hv T increasing density.
remains unchanged within the experimental error. This It follows from Eq. (5) that the density-dependent
observation implies that the mode Grüneisen constant refractive index originates from the density-dependent

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Fig. 5 The evaluated results of hv pT , and hv T at different temperatures. The temperature-dependent hv T , hv pT , and hv pT
– hv T are shown in Fig. 5a, b, c, respectively. The symbols (solid squares) represent the evaluated values, and the lines
shown in Fig. 5a, b, c denote the fitting results by Eqs. (10), (11), and (12), respectively. The experimental relationship
between hv T and hv pT is shown in Fig. 5d. Note that there is a systematic variance between two sets of experimental data.
The open circles are the data from Ref. [17], and solid squares are from [19]. The mean results for two linear relations are
in agreement with Eq. (13)

plasma frequency. Substituting Eq. (18) and the mean atic difference between two data sets of the refractive
value (2.15249×10−18 J) of hv T into Eq. (5), one is able index determined by Wray and Neu at high tempera-
to calculate the density-dependent refractive index at tures [17], and by Matsuoka et al. at low temperatures
λ = 0.5893µm. The calculated result is also plotted in [19]. The temperature-dependent hv T , hv pT , and hv pT
Fig. 3. The theoretical result is in well agreement with – hv T are shown in Fig. 5a, b, and c, which are found
the experimental data. to obey Eqs. (10), (11), and (12), respectively. The fit-
ting results are also plotted in Fig. 5. The evaluated
value [9.9546(28) × 10−20 J] of hv p0 – hv 0 is equal to
a difference between hv p0 [2.27912(72) × 10−18 J] and
6 Temperature-dependent refractive index hv 0 [2.18366(69) × 10−18 J], obtained from Eqs. (11)
and material dispersion of silica glass and (10), respectively. The values of hv osc calculated
from Eqs. (10) and (11) are 6.72(54) × 10−21 J and
The indices of refraction of the prisms composed of 6.37(81) × 10−21 J, with the mean value of 6.55 × 10−21
silica glass have been precisely determined by the J. According to the argument of Einstein and Debye
minimum-deviation method with a spectrometer in a [14], the oscillation frequency vosc can be alternatively
wide wavelength range, and at temperatures from 108 expressed by a characteristic temperature θ, that is
to 1101 K [17,19]. These results provide reliable data for kB θ = hvosc , or θ = hvosc /kB . The evaluated value
analyzing the temperature-dependent refractive index for θ is 474 K.
and material dispersion. At different temperatures, the experimental relation-
For the representative temperatures, the plots of (n2 – ship between hv T and hv pT is shown in Fig. 5d. A lin-
1) versus λ−2 are shown in Fig. 4 at wavelengths in
−1 ear relation in found for two sets of the experimental
the UV and VIS regions. As depicted by Eq. (5), the lin- data. As described by Eq. (13), the mean slope (1.474)
ear relation between (n2 –1)−1 and λ−2 is demonstrated and the mean intercept (−1.174 × 10−18 J) are approx-
at a constant temperature. The evaluated a, b, hv pT , imately equal to the theoretical values of 3/2, and hv 0 –
and hv T are listed in Table 1. Note there is a system- 3hvp0 /2(−1.235 × 10−18 J), respectively.

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Fig. 6 The molar heat capacity for silica glass. The lines √  √ 
are the experimental data: solid line Ref. [29], dash dot line Fig. 8 Plot of 2 −b 3 a − 2(n2 − 1)−1 Cp versus
Ref. [30], and dash line Ref. [31]. The symbols denote the n(n2 − 1)−2 dn/dT for silica glass. The open circles are the
results calculated by means of Eq. (15). The solid squares experimental results. The indices of refraction are taken
represent the results with q = 7 between 107.8 and 356.5 K. from Ref. [19], and the molar heat capacities are obtained
The indices of refraction are taken from Ref. [19]. The open by polynomial interpolation of the experimental data from
circles at 744 and 1101 K are the results with q = 8, and q = Ref. [29]. The ratio of the two terms is equal to the slope of
9, respectively. The indices of refraction are from Ref. [17] the straight line, 0.8355(22) (J m mol−1 ), and is equivalent
to 7NA hc

Equation (15) describes the relation between the

change of refractive index with temperature dn/dT and
the molar heat capacity Cv at constant volume. Note
that Cp and Cv is related by Cp = Cv + TVm α2 /κ,
where Vm is the molar volume, α is the thermal vol-
ume expansion coefficient, and κ is the isothermal com-
pressibility [32]. Neglecting thermal expansion, we have
Cv = Cp . This allows one to calculate the molar heat
capacity in terms of the determined n, dn/dT, vpT , and
vT at different temperatures.
A molecule in silica glass (molecular formula: SiO2 )
consists of three atoms, having maximum vibration
mode, qmax = 9. However, only part of the vibration
modes is excited at low temperatures. The molar heat
capacity reaches 9R at 1300 K [31], as shown in Fig. 6.
Fig. 7 The experimental (symbols) and theoretical (curve) In this case, q has its maximum value.
results of dn/dT ( λ = 0.5876 µm ) as the function of tem- Between 107.8 and 356.5 K, the molar heat capacity
perature. The experimental data are from Refs. [17, 18]. evaluated by means of Eq. (15) with q = 7 is plotted
The theoretical result is calculated by Eq. (14) in Fig. 6. The calculated results of q = 8 at 744 K,
and q = 9 at 1101 K are also shown in Fig. 6. It is
found that the calculated result is independent of the
7 Change of refractive index with wavelength. The theoretical data are in well agreement
with the experimental results. The number of vibration
temperature and the molar heat capacity mode q per molecule tends to increase successively with
of silica glass increasing temperature.
The specific heat capacity for silica glass has been
The molar heat capacity at constant pressure Cp for determined at low temperatures down to 0.1 K [33]. It
silica glass has been determined by Davronov and would be physically significant to measure the refractive
Berzovsky between 6 and 340 K [29], and by Lord and index and material dispersion between 0.1 and 100 K,
Morrow between 10 and 900 K [30]. The two sets of so that one is able to explore the successive change of
data are coincident with each other at low tempera- q between 0.1 and 100 K.
tures. The experimental results, together with molar With the evaluated results of hv p0 [2.27912(72) ×
heat capacities at high temperatures [31], are shown in 10−18 J] , hv 0 [2.18366(69) × 10−18 J], and hv osc
Fig. 6. [6.55 × 10−21 J], one can calculate dn/dT by means

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Fig. 9 Plots of (n2 –1)−1 versus λ−2 in the UV-to-IR range for silica glass at different temperatures (a). Notice the deviation
from the linear relation in the IR region. The difference of the refractive index, n(λ, T )- n(λ, T0 ), at temperatures T and
T0 is shown in (b). The experimental data (symbols) are taken from Ref. [17]. The curves represent the theoretical results
calculated by Eq. (19)

of Eq. (14). Both experimental [17,18] and theoreti- cific heat capacity. The proposed approach is confirmed
cal results for dn/dT (at λ = 0.5876µm) are shown in by the refractive index of silica glass.
Fig. 7. Notice lim Cv = 0. One finds lim (dn/dT ) = 0. In this work, we focus our attention on discussion of
T →0 T →0
Finally, in terms of the determined n, Cp , dn/dT, the refractive index and material dispersion in the UV
a, and b, one is able to calculate the product, NA hc, and VIS regions. At infrared (IR) frequencies, there are
of the fundamental two parts of polarization in dielectrics in response to the
√  √constants by means  of Eq. (16). In
electric field of the incident light, namely the electronic
a plot of 2 −b 3 a − 2(n2 − 1)−1 Cp versus n(n2 − polarization and the ionic polarization [11,16,35–38]. A
1)−2 dn/dT at different wavelengths, and at tempera- relative phase difference between two parts of polariza-
tures between 107.8 and 356.5 K, a linear relationship tion is π [10]. They tend to cancel one another. How-
is demonstrated, as the result shown in Fig. 8. This ever, ionic polarization is unable to respond to elec-
relation is independent of the wavelength and temper- tromagnetic waves at frequencies in the UV and VIS
ature. The slope of the line, 0.8355(22) (J m mol−1 ), regions. In the plot of (n2 − 1)−1 versus λ−2 , the devia-
is equal to 7NA hc. The evaluated NA hc is 0.11935(32) tion from the linear relation is observed in the IR range,
(J m mol−1 ). This result is amazingly in well agree- as the result shown in Fig. 9a for silica glass. In a wide
ment with classical value for NA hc, 0.11962656(29) (J range from UV to IR, the difference of the refractive
m mol−1 ) [34], giving a firm support for the present index, n(λ, T ) − n(λ, T0 ), at temperatures T and T0 is
work. shown in Fig. 9b. The experimental data (symbols) are
taken from Ref. [17]. The difference n(λ, T ) − n(λ, T0 )
approaches a constant with increasing wavelength at a
given temperature. According to Eq. (5), the value for
8 Discussion n(λ, T ) − n(λ, T0 ) is given by

The refractive index, as a function of temperature and −1

the wavelength, is described by Eq. (5), in which vpT , n(λ, T ) − n(λ, T0 ) = 1 + [a(T ) + b(T )λ−2 ]
and vT depend on temperature. The plasma frequency −1
2πvpT is proportional to the square root of the density. − 1 + [a(T0 ) + b(T0 )λ−2 ] . (19)
The temperature dependences of vpT and vT are deter-
mined by vp0 , v0 , and vosc . All these quantities have The temperature-dependent a and b are listed in
physical significance. The change of refractive index Table 1. The theoretical results (curves) calculated by
with temperature is consequently associated with spe- Eq. (19) are also plotted in Fig. 9b. Agreement is found

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Eur. Phys. J. B (2021) 94 :139 Page 9 of 9 139

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