scholarly journals Variability of the infrared complex refractive index of African mineral dust: experimental estimation and implications for radiative transfer and satellite remote sensing

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (20) ◽  
pp. 11093-11116 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Di Biagio ◽  
H. Boucher ◽  
S. Caquineau ◽  
S. Chevaillier ◽  
J. Cuesta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Refractive Index ◽  
Optical Properties ◽  
Radiative Transfer ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Mineral Dust ◽  
Complex Refractive Index ◽  
Mineralogical Composition ◽  
Asymmetry Factor ◽  
Large Variability ◽  
The Real

Abstract. Experimental estimations of the infrared refractive index of African mineral dust have been retrieved from laboratory measurements of particle transmission spectra in the wavelength range 2.5–25 μm. Five dust samples collected at Banizoumbou (Niger) and Tamanrasset (Algeria) during dust events originated from different Western Saharan and Sahelian areas have been investigated. The real (n) and imaginary (k) parts of the refractive index obtained for the different dust samples vary in the range 1.1–2.7 and 0.05–1.0, respectively, and are strongly sensitive to the mineralogical composition of the particles, especially in the 8–12 and 17–25 μm spectral intervals. Dust absorption is controlled mainly by clays (kaolinite, illite, smectite) and, to a lesser extent, by quartz and calcium-rich minerals (e.g. calcite, gypsum). Significant differences are obtained when comparing our results with existing experimental estimations available in the literature, and with the values of the OPAC (Optical Properties of Aerosols and Clouds) database. The different data sets appear comparable in magnitude, with our values of n and k falling within the range of variability of past studies. However, literature data fail in accurately reproducing the spectral signatures of the main minerals, in particular clays, and they significantly overestimate the contribution of quartz. Furthermore, the real and the imaginary parts of the refractive index from some literature studies are found not to verify the Kramers–Kronig relations, thus being theoretically incorrect. The comparison between our results, from western Africa, and literature data, from different locations in Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean, nonetheless, confirms the expected large variability of the dust infrared refractive index. This highlights the necessity for an extended systematic investigation of dust properties at infrared wavelengths. For the five analysed dust samples, aerosol intensive optical properties relevant to radiative transfer (mass extinction efficiency, kext, single scattering albedo, ω, and asymmetry factor, g) have been calculated, by using the Mie theory, based on the estimated refractive index and measured particle size distribution. The optical properties show a large sample-to-sample variability, with kext, ω, and g varying in the range 0.05–0.35, 0.25–1.0, and 0.05–0.75. This variability is expected to significantly impact satellite retrievals of atmospheric and surface parameters (e.g. from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer, IASI) and estimates of the dust radiative forcing.

scholarly journals Variability of the infrared complex refractive index of African mineral dust: experimental estimation and implications for radiative transfer and satellite remote sensing

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 10597-10657 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Di Biagio ◽  
H. Boucher ◽  
S. Caquineau ◽  
S. Chevaillier ◽  
J. Cuesta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Refractive Index ◽  
Optical Properties ◽  
Radiative Transfer ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Mineral Dust ◽  
Complex Refractive Index ◽  
Coarse Fraction ◽  
Asymmetry Factor ◽  
Large Variability

Abstract. Experimental estimations of the infrared refractive index of African mineral dust have been retrieved from laboratory measurements of particle transmission spectra in the wavelength range 2.5–25 μm. Five dust samples collected at Banizoumbou (Niger) and Tamanrasset (Algeria) during dust events originated from different Western Saharan and Sahelian areas have been investigated. The obtained real (n) and imaginary (k) parts of the refractive index for the different dust cases vary in the range 1.1–2.7 and 0.05–1.0, respectively, and appear to be strongly sensitive to the mineralogical composition of the particles, especially in the 8–12 μm and 17–25 μm spectral intervals. Dust absorption is controlled mainly by clays, and, in minor fraction, by quartz and Ca-rich minerals. Size distribution, and the coarse fraction in particular, plays also a role in determining the refractive index. Significant differences are obtained when comparing our results with existing experimental estimations available in the literature, and with the values of the OPAC (Optical Properties of Aerosols and Clouds) database. The different datasets appear comparable in magnitude, with our values of n and k falling in the range of variability of past studies. However, literature data fail in accurately reproducing the spectral signatures of main minerals, in particular clays, and they significantly overestimate the contribution of quartz. We also found that the real and the imaginary parts of the refractive index from part of literature studies do not verify Kramers–Kronig relations, thus resulting theoretically incorrect. The comparison between our results, from Western Africa, and literature data, from different locations in Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean, nonetheless, confirms the expected large variability of the infrared refractive index of dust, thus highlighting the necessity for an extended systematic investigation. Aerosol intensive optical properties relevant to radiative transfer (mass extinction efficiency, kext, single scattering albedo, ω, and asymmetry factor, g), have been calculated, by using the Mie theory, for the five analysed dust samples, based on the estimated refractive index and measured particle size distribution. The optical properties show a large sample-to-sample variability. This variability is expected to significantly impact satellite retrievals of atmospheric and surface parameters and estimates of the dust radiative forcing.

scholarly journals Determining the infrared radiative effects of Saharan dust: a radiative transfer modelling study based on vertically resolved measurements at Lampedusa

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 4377-4401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Meloni ◽  
Alcide di Sarra ◽  
Gérard Brogniez ◽  
Cyrielle Denjean ◽  
Lorenzo De Silvestri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Refractive Index ◽  
Optical Properties ◽  
Radiative Transfer ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Mineral Dust ◽  
Reliable Estimate ◽  
Radiative Effects ◽  
Aerosol Properties

Abstract. Detailed measurements of radiation, atmospheric and aerosol properties were carried out in summer 2013 during the Aerosol Direct Radiative Impact on the regional climate in the MEDiterranean region (ADRIMED) campaign in the framework of the Chemistry-Aerosol Mediterranean Experiment (ChArMEx) experiment. This study focusses on the characterization of infrared (IR) optical properties and direct radiative effects of mineral dust, based on three vertical profiles of atmospheric and aerosol properties and IR broadband and narrowband radiation from airborne measurements, made in conjunction with radiosonde and ground-based observations at Lampedusa, in the central Mediterranean. Satellite IR spectra from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounder Interferometer (IASI) are also included in the analysis. The atmospheric and aerosol properties are used as input to a radiative transfer model, and various IR radiation parameters (upward and downward irradiance, nadir and zenith brightness temperature at different altitudes) are calculated and compared with observations. The model calculations are made for different sets of dust particle size distribution (PSD) and refractive index (RI), derived from observations and from the literature. The main results of the analysis are that the IR dust radiative forcing is non-negligible and strongly depends on PSD and RI. When calculations are made using the in situ measured size distribution, it is possible to identify the refractive index that produces the best match with observed IR irradiances and brightness temperatures (BTs). The most appropriate refractive indices correspond to those determined from independent measurements of mineral dust aerosols from the source regions (Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco) of dust transported over Lampedusa, suggesting that differences in the source properties should be taken into account. With the in situ size distribution and the most appropriate refractive index the estimated dust IR radiative forcing efficiency is +23.7 W m−2 at the surface, −7.9 W m−2 within the atmosphere, and +15.8 W m−2 at the top of the atmosphere. The use of column-integrated dust PSD from AERONET may also produce a good agreement with measured irradiances and BTs, but with significantly different values of the RI. This implies large differences, up to a factor of 2.5 at surface, in the estimated dust radiative forcing, and in the IR heating rate. This study shows that spectrally resolved measurements of BTs are important to better constrain the dust IR optical properties, and to obtain a reliable estimate of its radiative effects. Efforts should be directed at obtaining an improved description of the dust size distribution and its vertical distribution, as well as at including regionally resolved optical properties.

scholarly journals Broadband spectroscopy of astrophysical ice analogues

2019 ◽  
Vol 629 ◽  
pp. A112 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. M. Giuliano ◽  
A. A. Gavdush ◽  
B. Müller ◽  
K. I. Zaytsev ◽  
T. Grassi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Refractive Index ◽  
Optical Properties ◽  
Time Domain ◽  
Complex Refractive Index ◽  
Far Infrared ◽  
Infrared Region ◽  
Thz Radiation ◽  
The Real ◽  
Thz Range ◽  
The Time Domain

Context. Reliable, directly measured optical properties of astrophysical ice analogues in the infrared and terahertz (THz) range are missing from the literature. These parameters are of great importance to model the dust continuum radiative transfer in dense and cold regions, where thick ice mantles are present, and are necessary for the interpretation of future observations planned in the far-infrared region. Aims. Coherent THz radiation allows for direct measurement of the complex dielectric function (refractive index) of astrophysically relevant ice species in the THz range. Methods. We recorded the time-domain waveforms and the frequency-domain spectra of reference samples of CO ice, deposited at a temperature of 28.5 K and annealed to 33 K at different thicknesses. We developed a new algorithm to reconstruct the real and imaginary parts of the refractive index from the time-domain THz data. Results. The complex refractive index in the wavelength range 1 mm–150 μm (0.3–2.0 THz) was determined for the studied ice samples, and this index was compared with available data found in the literature. Conclusions. The developed algorithm of reconstructing the real and imaginary parts of the refractive index from the time-domain THz data enables us, for the first time, to determine the optical properties of astrophysical ice analogues without using the Kramers–Kronig relations. The obtained data provide a benchmark to interpret the observational data from current ground-based facilities as well as future space telescope missions, and we used these data to estimate the opacities of the dust grains in presence of CO ice mantles.

scholarly journals Global scale variability of the mineral dust long-wave refractive index: a new dataset of in situ measurements for climate modeling and remote sensing

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 1901-1929 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Di Biagio ◽  
Paola Formenti ◽  
Yves Balkanski ◽  
Lorenzo Caponi ◽  
Mathieu Cazaunau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Refractive Index ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Mineral Dust ◽  
Complex Refractive Index ◽  
Mineralogical Composition ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Long Wave

Abstract. Modeling the interaction of dust with long-wave (LW) radiation is still a challenge because of the scarcity of information on the complex refractive index of dust from different source regions. In particular, little is known about the variability of the refractive index as a function of the dust mineralogical composition, which depends on the specific emission source, and its size distribution, which is modified during transport. As a consequence, to date, climate models and remote sensing retrievals generally use a spatially invariant and time-constant value for the dust LW refractive index. In this paper, the variability of the mineral dust LW refractive index as a function of its mineralogical composition and size distribution is explored by in situ measurements in a large smog chamber. Mineral dust aerosols were generated from 19 natural soils from 8 regions: northern Africa, the Sahel, eastern Africa and the Middle East, eastern Asia, North and South America, southern Africa, and Australia. Soil samples were selected from a total of 137 available samples in order to represent the diversity of sources from arid and semi-arid areas worldwide and to account for the heterogeneity of the soil composition at the global scale. Aerosol samples generated from soils were re-suspended in the chamber, where their LW extinction spectra (3–15 µm), size distribution, and mineralogical composition were measured. The generated aerosol exhibits a realistic size distribution and mineralogy, including both the sub- and super-micron fractions, and represents in typical atmospheric proportions the main LW-active minerals, such as clays, quartz, and calcite. The complex refractive index of the aerosol is obtained by an optical inversion based upon the measured extinction spectrum and size distribution. Results from the present study show that the imaginary LW refractive index (k) of dust varies greatly both in magnitude and spectral shape from sample to sample, reflecting the differences in particle composition. In the 3–15 µm spectral range, k is between ∼ 0.001 and 0.92. The strength of the dust absorption at ∼ 7 and 11.4 µm depends on the amount of calcite within the samples, while the absorption between 8 and 14 µm is determined by the relative abundance of quartz and clays. The imaginary part (k) is observed to vary both from region to region and for varying sources within the same region. Conversely, for the real part (n), which is in the range 0.84–1.94, values are observed to agree for all dust samples across most of the spectrum within the error bars. This implies that while a constant n can be probably assumed for dust from different sources, a varying k should be used both at the global and the regional scale. A linear relationship between the magnitude of the imaginary refractive index at 7.0, 9.2, and 11.4 µm and the mass concentration of calcite and quartz absorbing at these wavelengths was found. We suggest that this may lead to predictive rules to estimate the LW refractive index of dust in specific bands based on an assumed or predicted mineralogical composition, or conversely, to estimate the dust composition from measurements of the LW extinction at specific wavebands. Based on the results of the present study, we recommend that climate models and remote sensing instruments operating at infrared wavelengths, such as IASI (infrared atmospheric sounder interferometer), use regionally dependent refractive indices rather than generic values. Our observations also suggest that the refractive index of dust in the LW does not change as a result of the loss of coarse particles by gravitational settling, so that constant values of n and k could be assumed close to sources and following transport. The whole dataset of the dust complex refractive indices presented in this paper is made available to the scientific community in the Supplement.

scholarly journals Development of an online radiative module for the computation of aerosol optical properties in 3-D atmospheric models: validation during the EUCAARI campaign

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 735-768
Author(s):  
B. Aouizerats ◽  
O. Thouron ◽  
P. Tulet ◽  
M. Mallet ◽  
L. Gomes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Refractive Index ◽  
Optical Properties ◽  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Good Description ◽  
Complex Refractive Index ◽  
Aerosol Particles ◽  
Atmospheric Models ◽  
Aerosol Optical Properties ◽  
The Real ◽  
Models Validation

Abstract. Obtaining a good description of aerosol optical properties for a physically and chemically complex evolving aerosol is computationally very expensive at present. The goal of this work is to propose a new numerical module computing the optical properties for complex aerosol particles at low numerical cost so that it can be implemented in atmospheric models. This method aims to compute the optical properties online as a function of a given complex refractive index deduced from the aerosol chemical composition and the size parameters corresponding to the particles. The construction of look-up tables from the imaginary and the real part of the complex refractive index and size parameters will also be explained. This approach is validated for observations acquired during the EUCAARI campaign on the Cabauw tower during May 2008 and its computing cost is also estimated. These comparisons show that the module manages to reproduce the scattering and absorbing behaviour of the aerosol during most of the fifteen-day period of observation with a very cheap computationally cost.

Composition Dependence of Stratospheric Aerosol Radiative Forcing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaowei Li ◽  
John Dykema ◽  
Frank Keutsch
Keyword(s):  
Refractive Index ◽  
Optical Properties ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Complex Refractive Index ◽  
Stratospheric Aerosol ◽  
Organic Component ◽  
Aerosol Optical Properties ◽  
Aerosol Radiative Forcing ◽  
Aerosol Radiative

<p>Model results suggest organic aerosol represents a significant fraction of total stratospheric aerosol radiative forcing, which in itself could represent as much as a quarter of global radiative forcing. Other model investigations suggest that the radiative influence of organic aerosols and dust must be included to obtain consistency with satellite measurements of stratospheric aerosols. <em>In situ</em> observations suggest that stratospheric aerosol composition is strongly vertically dependent and contains a significant organic component in the lower stratosphere. Laboratory studies suggest a range of possible values for the complex refractive index of organic aerosols in the stratosphere. The real part of the refractive index could vary over a range that brackets the value of the real refractive index for pure sulfuric acid/water aerosols. The imaginary part of the refractive index of the organic component is highly uncertain, suggesting aerosols that range from being purely refractive to significantly absorbing (eg, brown carbon). The mixing state of these mixed composition aerosols is also uncertain; depending on the complex refractive index of the organic component, morphological variation could have a significant influence on aerosol radiative properties. In this work we perform a sensitivity study of shortwave radiative forcing of stratospheric aerosols, examining the influence of different plausible values of complex refractive index and particle morphologies. <em>In situ</em> measurements of aerosol size and composition are used to represent the size distribution, vertical profile, and organic mass fraction for the computation of aerosol optical properties. These profiles of aerosol optical properties are used as inputs to a radiative transfer model to calculate profiles of shortwave fluxes and radiative heating rates for standard model atmospheres. The implications of the variations in aerosol optical depth and resulting radiative forcing are interpreted in terms of implications for satellite measurements of stratospheric radiative forcing. The various radiative forcing results and remote sensing implications for different scenarios of organic complex refractive index and morphology call for better understandings of the effects of chemical evolution and transport dynamics on the aerosol optical properties in the stratosphere.</p>

scholarly journals Global scale variability of the mineral dust longwave refractive index: a new dataset of in situ measurements for climate modelling and remote sensing

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Di Biagio ◽  
Paola Formenti ◽  
Yves Balkanski ◽  
Lorenzo Caponi ◽  
Mathieu Cazaunau ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Refractive Index ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Mineral Dust ◽  
Complex Refractive Index ◽  
Mineralogical Composition ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Source Regions

Abstract. Modelling the interaction of dust with longwave (LW) radiation is still a challenge due to the scarcity of information on the complex refractive index of dust from different source regions. In particular, little is known on the variability of the refractive index as a function of the dust mineralogical composition, depending on the source region of emission, and the dust size distribution, which is modified during transport. As a consequence, to date, climate models and remote sensing retrievals generally use a spatially-invariant and time-constant value for the dust LW refractive index. In this paper the variability of the mineral dust LW refractive index as a function of its mineralogical composition and size distribution is explored by in situ measurements in a large smog chamber. Mineral dust aerosols were generated from nineteen natural soils from Northern Africa, Sahel, Middle East, Eastern Asia, North and South America, Southern Africa, and Australia. Soil samples were selected from a total of 137 samples available in order to represent the diversity of sources from arid and semi-arid areas worldwide and to account for the heterogeneity of the soil composition at the global scale. Aerosol samples generated from soils were re-suspended in the chamber, where their LW extinction spectra (2–16 µm), size distribution, and mineralogical composition were measured. The generated aerosol exhibits a realistic size distribution and mineralogy, including both the sub- and super-micron fractions, and represents in typical atmospheric proportions the main LW-active minerals, such as clays, quartz, and calcite. The complex refractive index of the aerosol is obtained by an optical inversion based upon the measured extinction spectrum and size distribution. Results from the present study show that the LW refractive index of dust varies greatly both in magnitude and spectral shape from sample to sample, following the changes in the measured particle composition. The real part (n) of the refractive index is between 0.84 and 1.94, while the imaginary part (k) is ~ 0.001 and 0.92. For instance, the strength of the absorption at ~ 7 and 11.4 µm depends on the amount of calcite within the samples, while the absorption between 8 and 14 µm is determined by the relative abundance of quartz and clays. A linear relationship between the magnitude of the refractive index at 7.0, 9.2, and 11.4 µm and the mass concentration of calcite and quartz absorbing at these wavelengths was found. We suggest that this may lead to predictive rules to estimate the LW refractive index of dust in specific bands based on an assumed or predicted mineralogical composition, or conversely, to estimate the dust composition from measurements of the LW extinction at specific wavebands. Based on the results of the present study, we recommend using refractive indices specific for the different source regions, rather than generic values, in climate models and remote sensing applications. Our observations also suggest that the refractive index of dust in the LW does not change due to the loss of coarse particles by gravitational settling, so that a constant value could be assumed close to sources and during transport. The results of the present study also clearly suggest that the LW refractive index of dust varies at the regional scale. This regional variability has to be characterized further in order to better assess the influence of dust on regional climate, as well as to increase the accuracy of satellite retrievals over regions affected by dust. We make the whole dataset of the dust complex refractive indices obtained here available to the scientific community by publishing it in the supplementary material to this paper.

scholarly journals A method to retrieve the spectral complex refractive index and single scattering optical properties of dust deposited in mountain snow

2016 ◽  
Vol 63 (237) ◽  
pp. 133-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. McKENZIE SKILES ◽  
THOMAS PAINTER ◽  
GREGORY S. OKIN
Keyword(s):  
Refractive Index ◽  
Optical Properties ◽  
Radiative Transfer ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Direct Reduction ◽  
Complex Refractive Index ◽  
Single Scattering ◽  
Radiative Transfer Model ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Dust Deposition

ABSTRACTDust deposition to snow can have regionally important climatic and hydrologic impacts resulting from direct reduction of surface albedo and indirectly from the initiation of snow albedo feedbacks. Modeling the radiative impacts of dust deposited in snow requires knowledge of the optical properties of both components. Here we present an inversion technique to retrieve the effective optical properties of dust deposited in mountain snow cover from measurements of hemispherical dust reflectance and particle size distributions using radiative transfer modeling. First, modeled reflectance is produced from single scattering properties modeled with Mie theory for a specified grain size distribution over a range of values for the imaginary part of the complex refractive index (k = 0.00001–0.1). Then, a multi-step look-up table process is employed to retrieve kλ and single scattering optical properties by matching measured to modeled reflectance across the shortwave and near infrared. The real part of the complex refractive index, n, for dust aerosols ranges between 1.5 and 1.6 and a sensitivity analysis shows the method is relatively insensitive to the choice of n within this range, 1.525 was used here. Using the values retrieved by this method to update dust optical properties in a snow + aerosol radiative transfer model reduces errors in springtime albedo modeling by 50–70%.

scholarly journals What is the real role of iron oxides in the optical properties of dust aerosols?

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (21) ◽  
pp. 12159-12177 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. L. Zhang ◽  
G. J. Wu ◽  
C. L. Zhang ◽  
T. L. Xu ◽  
Q. Q. Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Refractive Index ◽  
Optical Properties ◽  
Iron Oxide ◽  
Optical Absorption ◽  
Iron Oxides ◽  
Mineral Dust ◽  
Refractive Indices ◽  
The Real ◽  
Dust Aerosols

Abstract. Iron oxide compounds constitute an important component of mineral dust aerosols. Several previous studies have shown that these minerals are strong absorbers at visible wavelengths and thus that they play a critical role in the overall climate perturbation caused by dust aerosols. When compiling a database of complex refractive indices of possible mineral species of iron oxides to study their optical properties, we found that uniformly continuous optical constants for a single type of iron oxide in the wavelength range between 0.2 and 50 μm are very scarce, and that the use of hematite to represent all molecular or mineral iron-oxides types is a popular hypothesis. However, the crucial problem is that three continuous data sets for complex refractive indices of hematite are employed in climate models, but there are significant differences between them. Thus, the real role of iron oxides in the optical properties of dust aerosols becomes a key scientific question, and we address this problem by considering different refractive indices, size distributions and more logical weight fractions and mixing states of hematite. Based on the microscopic observations, a semi-external mixture that employs an external mixture between Fe aggregates and other minerals and partly internal mixing between iron oxides and aluminosilicate particles is advised as the optimal approximation. The simulations demonstrate that hematite with a spectral refractive index from Longtin et al. (1988) shows approximately equal absorbing capacity to the mineral illite over the whole wavelength region from 0.55 to 2.5 μm, and only enhances the optical absorption of aerosol mixture at λ < 0.55 μm. Using the data set from Querry (1985) may overestimate the optical absorption of hematite at both visible and near-infrared wavelengths. More laboratory measurements of the refractive index of iron oxides, especially for hematite and goethite in the visible spectrum, should therefore be taken into account when assessing the effect of mineral dust on climate forcing.

scholarly journals Optical Characterization of Ultra-Thin Films of Azo-Dye-Doped Polymers Using Ellipsometry and Surface Plasmon Resonance Spectroscopy

Photonics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 41
Author(s):  
Najat Andam ◽  
Siham Refki ◽  
Hidekazu Ishitobi ◽  
Yasushi Inouye ◽  
Zouheir Sekkat
Keyword(s):  
Refractive Index ◽  
Optical Properties ◽  
Surface Plasmon Resonance ◽  
Surface Plasmon ◽  
Spectroscopic Ellipsometry ◽  
Plasmon Resonance ◽  
Complex Refractive Index ◽  
Resonance Spectroscopy ◽  
Doped Polymers

The determination of optical constants (i.e., real and imaginary parts of the complex refractive index (nc) and thickness (d)) of ultrathin films is often required in photonics. It may be done by using, for example, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) spectroscopy combined with either profilometry or atomic force microscopy (AFM). SPR yields the optical thickness (i.e., the product of nc and d) of the film, while profilometry and AFM yield its thickness, thereby allowing for the separate determination of nc and d. In this paper, we use SPR and profilometry to determine the complex refractive index of very thin (i.e., 58 nm) films of dye-doped polymers at different dye/polymer concentrations (a feature which constitutes the originality of this work), and we compare the SPR results with those obtained by using spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements performed on the same samples. To determine the optical properties of our film samples by ellipsometry, we used, for the theoretical fits to experimental data, Bruggeman’s effective medium model for the dye/polymer, assumed as a composite material, and the Lorentz model for dye absorption. We found an excellent agreement between the results obtained by SPR and ellipsometry, confirming that SPR is appropriate for measuring the optical properties of very thin coatings at a single light frequency, given that it is simpler in operation and data analysis than spectroscopic ellipsometry.

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