The Refractive Index of Water Ice
Water can exist in the solid phase as amorphous ice (Ia), or in a crystalline form as either hexagonal (Ih) or cubic (Ic) ice. Cubic ice is a metastable crystal and will transform into hexagonal ice (Ih) upon warming. This transformation is time and temperature dependent, requiring roughly 1 hour at 170 K and 6 or more days at 145 K. Amorphous ice (Ia) forms at temperatures below 100 K, and will crystallize into Ic at temperatures above ~135 K. Because crystallization is irreversible, ice existing as Ih or Ic will remain unchanged upon cooling to temperatures as low as 100 K. The current record of available ice refractive indices covers Ia, Ic, and Ih and temperatures from 10 to 266 K. The optical properties of hexagonal and cubic ice are generally considered to be identical (Warren, 1984, Mastrapa et al., 2008), however, the existing data do not necessarily validate that assertion.
The table below summarizes the ice refractive indices and offers the data as ascii files. The files are taken from the original sources and reformated into a common format. The data are roughly ordered by temperature.
An IDL file reader is available here (read_ice_index.pro).
For questions or comments contact Mark Hervig ([email protected]). The page is currently under construction.
| Ice Refractive Index Data. | |||
| Reference | Wavelength (microns) | Temperature Habit Comments | Data Files (T, habit) |
| Hudgins et al. (1993) | 2.5 - 200 | 10 - 140K Ia for T < 100, transforming to Ic for T > 100 K | 10K, Ia 40K, Ia 80K, Ia 100K, Ia 120K, Ia? 140K, Ia? |
| Mastrapa et al. (2008) | 1.1 - 15 | 20 - 150K Ic for 20 to 150 K; also Ia for T < 70 K and T > 70 K | <70K, Ia >70K, Ia 20K, Ic 40K, Ic 50K, Ic 60K, Ic 70K, Ic 80K, Ic 90K, Ic 100K, Ic 110K, Ic 120K, Ic 130K, Ic 140K, Ic 150K, Ic |
| Leger et al. (1983) | 2.5 - 80 | 77K Ia | file |
| Mukai and Kraetschmer (1986) | 2.5 - 15 | 23K Ia | file |
| Bertie et al. (1969) | 1.2 - 333 | 100K Ih | file |
| Clapp et al. (1995) | 2.5 - 12.5 | 130 - 210K Ih, possibly Ic at low T | 130K, Ih 140K, Ih 150K, Ih 160K, Ih 170K, Ih 180K, Ih 190K, Ih 200K, Ih 210K, Ih |
| Toon et al. (1994) | 1.4 - 20 | 163K Ih | file |
| Rajaram et al. (2001) | 1.4 - 2.7 | 166 - 196 Ih | file |
| Gosse et al. (1995) | 1.4 - 7.8 | 251K Ih imaginary index only | file |
| Kou et al. (1993) | 0.65 - 2.5 | 248K Ih imaginary index only | file |
| Perovich and Govoni (1991) | 0.25 - 0.4 | Ia | file |
| Browell and Anderson (1975) | 0.16 - 0.32 | Ia and Ih real index only | file |
| Warren (1984) | 0.05 - 2000 | 266K Ih based on many data sets | file |
| Warren and Brandt (2008) | 0.05 - 2000 | 266K Ih based on many data sets | file |
Refractive Index Links
References
Baragiola, R. A., Water ice on outer solar system surfaces: Basic properties and radiation effects, Planetary and Space Sci., 51, 953-961, 2003.Bertie, J. E., H. J. Labbe, and E. Whalley, Absorptivity of ice I in the Range 4000-30 cm-1, J. Chem. Phys., 50, 4501-4520, 1969.
Browell, E. V., and R. C. Anderson, Ultraviolet optical constants of water and ammonia ices, J. Opt. Soc. America , 65, 919-925, 1975.
Clapp, M. L., R. E. Miller, and D. R. Worsnop, Frequency-dependent optical constants of water ice obtained directly from aerosol extinction spectra, J. Phys. Chem., 99, 6317, 1995.
Gosse, S., D. Labrie, and P. Chylek, Refractive index of ice in the 1.4-7.8-mm spectral range, Applied optics, 34, 6582-6586, 1995.
Hudgins, D. M., S. A. Sandford, L. J. Allamandola, and L. J. Tielens, Mid- and Far-Infrared Spectroscopy of Ices: Optical Constants and Integrated Absorbances, Astrop. J. Supp. Ser., 86, 713-870, 1993.
Kou, L., D. Labrie, and P. Chylek, Refractive indices of water and ice in the 0.65- to 2.5 m spectral range, Appl. Optics, 19, 3531-3540, 1993.
Leger, A., S. Gauthier, D. Defourneau, D. Rouan, Properties of amorphous H2O ice and origin of the 3.1-micron absorption, Astron. and Astrophysics, 117, 164-169, 1983. (PDF)
Mastrapa, R. M., M. P. Bernstein, S. A. Sandford, T. L. Roush, D. P. Cruikshank, C. M. Dalle Ore, Optical constants of amorphous and crystalline H2O-ice in the near infrared from 1.1 to 2.6 μm, Icarus, doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2008.04.008, 2008.
Mukai, T., and W. Kraetschmer, Optical constants of the mixture of ices, Earth, Moon, and Planets (ISSN 0167-9295), 36, 145-155, 1986. (PDF)
Perovich, D. K., and J. W. Govoni, Absorption coefficients of ice from 250 to 400 nm, Geophys. Res. Lett., 18, 1233-1235, 1991.
Rajaram B., D. L. Glandorf, D. B. Curtis, M. A. Tolbert, O. B. Toon, and N. Ockman, Temperature-dependent optical constants of water ice in the near infrared: new results and critical review of the available measurements, Applied Optics, 40, 4449-4462, 2001.
Toon O. B., M. A. Tolbert, B. G. Koehler, A. M. Middlebrook, and J. Jordan, Infrared optical constants of H2O ice, amorphous nitric acid solutions, and nitric acid hydrates, J. Geophys. Res., 99, 25,631-25,645, 1994.
Warren, S. G., Optical constants of ice from the ultraviolet to the microwave, Appl. Optics, 23, 11,906-11,926, 1984.
Warren, S. G., and R. E. Brandt, Optical constants of ice from the ultraviolet to the microwave: A revised compilation, J. Geophys. Res., 113, doi:10.1029/2007JD009744, 2008.