rodney_1954#
W. S. Rodney and R. J. Spindler, “Index of refraction of fused-quartz glass for ultraviolet, visible, and infrared wavelengths”, J. Res. Natl. Bur. Stand. 53, 185 (1954)
Source record · Catalogue · Review register
DOI: 10.6028/jres.053.022
Source kind: measurement
Recorded technique: Minimum deviation on seven prisms of fused-quartz glass (p. 185): General Electric (G1 and G2: one made ‘over 20 years ago’, an NBS refractive-index standard, and one ‘of recent origin’; the paper does not say which is which), Heraeus A and B (from S. S. Ballard) and C (a cylinder), a Nieder Fused Quartz Co. disk (with considerable striae), and a Corning sample (‘extremely good ultraviolet transmission’ but a stronger band near 2.6 um). The Watts precision spectrometer for the visible (visual settings), the Gaertner precision spectrometer, modified (Fig. 1), for the ultraviolet and infrared, with a lead-sulfide detector (Hg and Cd emission lines to about 2.5 um) and a Golay detector (polystyrene absorption bands to about 3.5 um) (pp. 185-186). The Gaertner cannot measure the undeviated beam: its zero is computed from visual deviations on the Watts instrument (p. 186). Room temperature controlled to +-0.2 C, measured by a thermometer with its bulb near the prism; data adjusted to exactly 24 C (and 31 C for Heraeus A and B) with the measured temperature coefficients (p. 186).
Materials in structured entries: SiO2
Dataset quantities: refractive_index, refractive_index_deviation, thermo_optic_coefficient
Contents: 15 datasets; 1 formula.
Curation notes#
Journal pages 185-189 = pdf pages 1-5 (a scan with an OCR text layer). Identity checked against the first page. Footnote 1: a shorter account ‘giving the essential results’ is in J. Opt. Soc. Am. 44, 677 (1954) (not in the library). Dated ‘Washington, March 15, 1954’.
AIR OR VACUUM (TC-323). The paper nowhere uses the words ‘air’ or ‘vacuum’ and describes no reduction of the index to vacuum. What it says of the surroundings: ‘The average temperature of the room was controlled within +-0.2 deg C and was determined frequently by means of a thermometer having its bulb near the prism’ (p. 186); Table 3 gives indices ‘at various room temperatures’ (caption, p. 188). The prisms were measured in the room (no enclosure is mentioned; Fig. 1 shows the open Gaertner layout), so the minimum-deviation index is relative to the room air; the datasets say index_medium = ‘air’, with the air at the stated sample temperature and the pressure not stated. This is an inference from the method, not a statement of the paper. The wavelengths are those of Hg and Cd lines as tabulated in air (0.546074 um for the Hg green line; 0.643847 um Cd red) and polystyrene absorption bands, recorded as standard air.
SAME APPARATUS AS MALITSON 1965. Malitson (malitson_1965), p. 1205: ‘The measurements were performed on the same apparatus and by identical techniques as described in the earlier NBS paper’ (this one); p. 1209: ‘the previous and current NBS experiments were performed on the same instrument and by identical techniques. The only significant difference is in the detectors’. Malitson’s Fig. 4 compares this paper’s formula values, adjusted to 20 C, with his Eq. (1): +8e-5 at 0.34 um, +2e-5 from 0.56 to 1.4 um, +8e-5 at 3.5 um. Recomputed here (2026-09-26): Eq. (1) moved from 24 to 20 C with 1e-5/K minus Malitson’s Eq. (1), both at the same air wavelengths: +7.5e-5 (0.35 um), +2.8e-5 (0.5), +1.4e-5 (0.7), +1.5e-5 (1.0), +4.9e-5 (2.0), +8.2e-5 (3.0 um), as Fig. 4 shows: the two papers are on one footing. Against leviton_2008 (absolute, Corning 7980) at 297.15 K: Eq. (1) times the index of dry air at 24 C (Edlen, 101 325 Pa) at the standard-air wavelength is 1.5-3.2e-5 above Leviton from 0.6 to 1.5 um (5.9e-5 at 0.4 um, 5.5e-5 at 2.0 um); read as absolute, it is 3.3-3.8e-4 below. The paper attributes index differences of 2-3e-4 among specimens to purity (‘it seems advisable to add 2 or 3 x 10^-4 for probable values of some specimens of such glass’, p. 188).
ACCURACY. ‘The errors for these data do not exceed +-1 x 10^-5’ (the visual Watts data, p. 186); no statement for the Gaertner (detector) data of Table 1. Table 1 note (p. 187): ‘All residuals in this table are based on results obtained with a physical detector. For wavelengths in the visible range the residuals would be smaller if the visually observed data were used. In particular, the residual +5 x 10^-5 for lambda = 0.578012 u becomes zero because the physical detector did not effectively resolve this mercury doublet.’ (The library’s Markdown reads ‘+5 x 10^-8’; the image prints 10^-5.) ‘The predominance of negative residuals for the region 3 to 3.5 u indicates that further improvement can be made’; at 3.4188 um ‘there is observational uncertainty because of the very broad nature of this absorption band’ (p. 186). ‘The indices computed by formula (1) are, in general, better than the observed values’ (p. 186). No index between about 2.4 and 3.2 um (the OH absorption; dashed in Fig. 3; p. 188).
PURITY (pp. 186-188): the Heraeus, Nieder and Corning samples agree with Trommsdorff’s and Gifford’s data (Fig. 2); Heraeus B and Corning ‘may possibly be freer of traces of other substances, because the common basic impurities would tend to make the index higher’; hence Eq. (1) and Table 2 ‘express probable values for nearly pure fused-quartz glass’. Annealing temperatures unknown (footnote 3).
dn/dT (p. 189): ‘The temperature coefficients of index were determined for each of the lines measured. The precision is not adequate to determine definitely the variation with wavelength; however, there is evidence of first a slight increase, then a lowering at the longer wavelengths. The average value at the shorter wavelengths was found to be 10 x 10^-6 and this may fall to an average of about 4.0 x 10^-6 near 3.5 u. The values in the visible region agree with those of Tilton [3] and others. Table 3 lists the index at several different temperatures. These values were obtained by applying the temperature coefficients to value computed from formula (1).’ The coefficients were measured on Heraeus A and B between 24 and 31 C (p. 186). Being relative to the room air, whose index falls by about 0.9e-6 per kelvin at constant pressure, they exceed the absolute dn/dT by about 1.3e-6/K (not discussed in the paper). Leviton’s absolute values at 295 K (0.4-0.7 um: 9.70, 9.12, 8.86, 8.69e-6/K) against these (9.5, 9.7, 10.0, 10.3e-6/K).
CHECKS (2026-09-26). Table 3 = Table 2’s index at 24 C plus the tabulated coefficient times (t - 24): 153 of 155 cells agree to the printed digit; at 0.60 um and 35 C the printed 1.45820 is 1.458206 by this rule (a rounding of the authors’ own; not corrected). At 0.70 um and 30 C the table prints 0.45541 for 1.45541 (erratum).
FIGURES (not digitised): 1, the modified Gaertner spectrometer; 2, (n_o - n_c) x 10^5 of the prisms and of Gifford’s and Trommsdorff’s data (from Sosman) against wavelength; 3, n of Heraeus B; 4, the dispersion, minimum near 1.5 um.
Recorded bibliographic identity status: VALIDATED_WITH_WARNINGS. This concerns identification of the source; it does not establish the scientific correctness of its contents.
Datasets#
rodney_1954/computed_table1#
{
"id": "computed_table1",
"material": "SiO2",
"file": "SiO2/rodney_1954__computed_table1.csv",
"table": "tbl_947a659cc842",
"quantity": "refractive_index",
"abscissa_unit": "um",
"wavelength_medium": "standard_air",
"use": "check",
"parameters": {
"grade": "Heraeus B",
"temperature_k": 297.15,
"form": "bulk",
"technique": "minimum deviation",
"index_medium": "air",
"air_temperature_k": 297.15
}
}
Table 1, ‘Computed index Eq (1)’: the formula at the 24 wavelengths (Heraeus B, 24 C); the formula’s own column. The measured index of each prism is this plus its residual.
rodney_1954/residual_heraeus_a#
{
"id": "residual_heraeus_a",
"material": "SiO2",
"file": "SiO2/rodney_1954__residual_heraeus_a.csv",
"table": "tbl_947a659cc842",
"quantity": "refractive_index_deviation",
"scale": 1e-05,
"abscissa_unit": "um",
"wavelength_medium": "standard_air",
"use": "primary",
"parameters": {
"reference": "rodney_1954/eq1",
"grade": "Heraeus A",
"temperature_k": 297.15,
"form": "bulk",
"technique": "minimum deviation",
"index_medium": "air",
"air_temperature_k": 297.15
}
}
Table 1, residual (o - c) x 10^5 against Eq. (1), 24 C: Heraeus prism A (from S. S. Ballard). Dashed cells (lines not measured on this prism) are omitted. Physical-detector (Gaertner) data; no uncertainty stated for them (see the source notes: the visual data ‘do not exceed +-1 x 10^-5’; the +5 at 0.578012 um is an unresolved Hg doublet).
rodney_1954/residual_heraeus_b#
{
"id": "residual_heraeus_b",
"material": "SiO2",
"file": "SiO2/rodney_1954__residual_heraeus_b.csv",
"table": "tbl_947a659cc842",
"quantity": "refractive_index_deviation",
"scale": 1e-05,
"abscissa_unit": "um",
"wavelength_medium": "standard_air",
"use": "primary",
"parameters": {
"reference": "rodney_1954/eq1",
"grade": "Heraeus B",
"temperature_k": 297.15,
"form": "bulk",
"technique": "minimum deviation",
"index_medium": "air",
"air_temperature_k": 297.15
}
}
Table 1, residual (o - c) x 10^5 against Eq. (1), 24 C: Heraeus prism B, the prism Eq. (1) represents (its own residuals). Dashed cells (lines not measured on this prism) are omitted. Physical-detector (Gaertner) data; no uncertainty stated for them (see the source notes: the visual data ‘do not exceed +-1 x 10^-5’; the +5 at 0.578012 um is an unresolved Hg doublet).
rodney_1954/residual_heraeus_c#
{
"id": "residual_heraeus_c",
"material": "SiO2",
"file": "SiO2/rodney_1954__residual_heraeus_c.csv",
"table": "tbl_947a659cc842",
"quantity": "refractive_index_deviation",
"scale": 1e-05,
"abscissa_unit": "um",
"wavelength_medium": "standard_air",
"use": "primary",
"parameters": {
"reference": "rodney_1954/eq1",
"grade": "Heraeus C",
"temperature_k": 297.15,
"form": "bulk",
"technique": "minimum deviation",
"index_medium": "air",
"air_temperature_k": 297.15
}
}
Table 1, residual (o - c) x 10^5 against Eq. (1), 24 C: Heraeus sample C, windows on a cylinder about 4 in. long and 2 in. in diameter. Dashed cells (lines not measured on this prism) are omitted. Physical-detector (Gaertner) data; no uncertainty stated for them (see the source notes: the visual data ‘do not exceed +-1 x 10^-5’; the +5 at 0.578012 um is an unresolved Hg doublet).
rodney_1954/residual_nieder#
{
"id": "residual_nieder",
"material": "SiO2",
"file": "SiO2/rodney_1954__residual_nieder.csv",
"table": "tbl_947a659cc842",
"quantity": "refractive_index_deviation",
"scale": 1e-05,
"abscissa_unit": "um",
"wavelength_medium": "standard_air",
"use": "primary",
"parameters": {
"reference": "rodney_1954/eq1",
"grade": "Nieder Fused Quartz Co.",
"temperature_k": 297.15,
"form": "bulk",
"technique": "minimum deviation",
"index_medium": "air",
"air_temperature_k": 297.15
}
}
Table 1, residual (o - c) x 10^5 against Eq. (1), 24 C: prism on the periphery of a 6-in. Nieder Fused Quartz Co. disk (‘considerable striae’). Dashed cells (lines not measured on this prism) are omitted. Physical-detector (Gaertner) data; no uncertainty stated for them (see the source notes: the visual data ‘do not exceed +-1 x 10^-5’; the +5 at 0.578012 um is an unresolved Hg doublet).
rodney_1954/residual_ge_g1#
{
"id": "residual_ge_g1",
"material": "SiO2",
"file": "SiO2/rodney_1954__residual_ge_g1.csv",
"table": "tbl_947a659cc842",
"quantity": "refractive_index_deviation",
"scale": 1e-05,
"abscissa_unit": "um",
"wavelength_medium": "standard_air",
"use": "primary",
"parameters": {
"reference": "rodney_1954/eq1",
"grade": "General Electric G1",
"temperature_k": 297.15,
"form": "bulk",
"technique": "minimum deviation",
"index_medium": "air",
"air_temperature_k": 297.15
}
}
Table 1, residual (o - c) x 10^5 against Eq. (1), 24 C: General Electric sample G1 (one of the two GE prisms: ‘made over 20 years ago’ and an NBS index standard, or ‘of recent origin’; the paper does not say which is G1). Dashed cells (lines not measured on this prism) are omitted. Physical-detector (Gaertner) data; no uncertainty stated for them (see the source notes: the visual data ‘do not exceed +-1 x 10^-5’; the +5 at 0.578012 um is an unresolved Hg doublet).
rodney_1954/residual_ge_g2#
{
"id": "residual_ge_g2",
"material": "SiO2",
"file": "SiO2/rodney_1954__residual_ge_g2.csv",
"table": "tbl_947a659cc842",
"quantity": "refractive_index_deviation",
"scale": 1e-05,
"abscissa_unit": "um",
"wavelength_medium": "standard_air",
"use": "primary",
"parameters": {
"reference": "rodney_1954/eq1",
"grade": "General Electric G2",
"temperature_k": 297.15,
"form": "bulk",
"technique": "minimum deviation",
"index_medium": "air",
"air_temperature_k": 297.15
}
}
Table 1, residual (o - c) x 10^5 against Eq. (1), 24 C: General Electric sample G2 (see G1). Dashed cells (lines not measured on this prism) are omitted. Physical-detector (Gaertner) data; no uncertainty stated for them (see the source notes: the visual data ‘do not exceed +-1 x 10^-5’; the +5 at 0.578012 um is an unresolved Hg doublet).
rodney_1954/residual_corning#
{
"id": "residual_corning",
"material": "SiO2",
"file": "SiO2/rodney_1954__residual_corning.csv",
"table": "tbl_947a659cc842",
"quantity": "refractive_index_deviation",
"scale": 1e-05,
"abscissa_unit": "um",
"wavelength_medium": "standard_air",
"use": "primary",
"parameters": {
"reference": "rodney_1954/eq1",
"grade": "Corning silica glass",
"temperature_k": 297.15,
"form": "bulk",
"technique": "minimum deviation",
"index_medium": "air",
"air_temperature_k": 297.15
}
}
Table 1, residual (o - c) x 10^5 against Eq. (1), 24 C: Corning Glass Works sample (‘extremely good ultraviolet transmission’, a stronger band near 2.6 um). Dashed cells (lines not measured on this prism) are omitted. Physical-detector (Gaertner) data; no uncertainty stated for them (see the source notes: the visual data ‘do not exceed +-1 x 10^-5’; the +5 at 0.578012 um is an unresolved Hg doublet).
rodney_1954/table2#
{
"id": "table2",
"material": "SiO2",
"file": "SiO2/rodney_1954__table2.csv",
"table": "tbl_39b3d33089ff",
"quantity": "refractive_index",
"abscissa_unit": "um",
"wavelength_medium": "standard_air",
"use": "check",
"parameters": {
"temperature_k": 297.15,
"form": "bulk",
"technique": "minimum deviation",
"index_medium": "air",
"air_temperature_k": 297.15
}
}
Table 2, ‘Most probable values of refractive indices of pure fused-quartz glass at 24 C for various wavelengths. Computed from eq (1)’: 65 wavelengths, 0.34-3.50 um (six decimals, five at 0.34-0.39 and 3.0-3.5 um). The formula’s own values; 2.4-3.2 um lies where no index was measured (p. 188). Caption swapped with Table 1’s in the extraction (structural fix).
rodney_1954/dndt#
{
"id": "dndt",
"material": "SiO2",
"file": "SiO2/rodney_1954__dndt.csv",
"table": "tbl_69b8ae37c6ed",
"quantity": "thermo_optic_coefficient",
"unit": "1/K",
"scale": 1e-07,
"abscissa_unit": "um",
"wavelength_medium": "standard_air",
"use": "primary",
"parameters": {
"form": "bulk",
"technique": "minimum deviation",
"index_medium": "air"
}
}
Table 3, 10^7 x Delta n / Delta t (per degree C), 0.40-0.70 um: the temperature coefficients measured on Heraeus A and B between 24 and 31 C (p. 186), as tabulated for ‘pure fused-quartz glass’. Relative to the room air (inferred): about 1.3e-6/K above an absolute dn/dT (see the source notes). ‘The precision is not adequate to determine definitely the variation with wavelength’ (p. 189); no uncertainty stated. The sample temperature (between 24 and 31 C) is not a single stated value.
rodney_1954/table3_15C#
{
"id": "table3_15C",
"material": "SiO2",
"file": "SiO2/rodney_1954__table3_15C.csv",
"table": "tbl_69b8ae37c6ed",
"quantity": "refractive_index",
"abscissa_unit": "um",
"wavelength_medium": "standard_air",
"use": "check",
"parameters": {
"temperature_k": 288.15,
"form": "bulk",
"technique": "minimum deviation",
"index_medium": "air",
"air_temperature_k": 288.15
}
}
Table 3, t = 15 C: ‘Most probable values of refractive indices of pure fused-quartz glass at various room temperatures’, 0.40-0.70 um: Eq. (1) plus the tabulated coefficient times (t - 24) (p. 189), not measurements at 15 C.
rodney_1954/table3_20C#
{
"id": "table3_20C",
"material": "SiO2",
"file": "SiO2/rodney_1954__table3_20C.csv",
"table": "tbl_69b8ae37c6ed",
"quantity": "refractive_index",
"abscissa_unit": "um",
"wavelength_medium": "standard_air",
"use": "check",
"parameters": {
"temperature_k": 293.15,
"form": "bulk",
"technique": "minimum deviation",
"index_medium": "air",
"air_temperature_k": 293.15
}
}
Table 3, t = 20 C: ‘Most probable values of refractive indices of pure fused-quartz glass at various room temperatures’, 0.40-0.70 um: Eq. (1) plus the tabulated coefficient times (t - 24) (p. 189), not measurements at 20 C.
rodney_1954/table3_25C#
{
"id": "table3_25C",
"material": "SiO2",
"file": "SiO2/rodney_1954__table3_25C.csv",
"table": "tbl_69b8ae37c6ed",
"quantity": "refractive_index",
"abscissa_unit": "um",
"wavelength_medium": "standard_air",
"use": "check",
"parameters": {
"temperature_k": 298.15,
"form": "bulk",
"technique": "minimum deviation",
"index_medium": "air",
"air_temperature_k": 298.15
}
}
Table 3, t = 25 C: ‘Most probable values of refractive indices of pure fused-quartz glass at various room temperatures’, 0.40-0.70 um: Eq. (1) plus the tabulated coefficient times (t - 24) (p. 189), not measurements at 25 C.
rodney_1954/table3_30C#
{
"id": "table3_30C",
"material": "SiO2",
"file": "SiO2/rodney_1954__table3_30C.csv",
"table": "tbl_69b8ae37c6ed",
"quantity": "refractive_index",
"abscissa_unit": "um",
"wavelength_medium": "standard_air",
"use": "check",
"parameters": {
"temperature_k": 303.15,
"form": "bulk",
"technique": "minimum deviation",
"index_medium": "air",
"air_temperature_k": 303.15
}
}
Table 3, t = 30 C: ‘Most probable values of refractive indices of pure fused-quartz glass at various room temperatures’, 0.40-0.70 um: Eq. (1) plus the tabulated coefficient times (t - 24) (p. 189), not measurements at 30 C.
rodney_1954/table3_35C#
{
"id": "table3_35C",
"material": "SiO2",
"file": "SiO2/rodney_1954__table3_35C.csv",
"table": "tbl_69b8ae37c6ed",
"quantity": "refractive_index",
"abscissa_unit": "um",
"wavelength_medium": "standard_air",
"use": "check",
"parameters": {
"temperature_k": 308.15,
"form": "bulk",
"technique": "minimum deviation",
"index_medium": "air",
"air_temperature_k": 308.15
}
}
Table 3, t = 35 C: ‘Most probable values of refractive indices of pure fused-quartz glass at various room temperatures’, 0.40-0.70 um: Eq. (1) plus the tabulated coefficient times (t - 24) (p. 189), not measurements at 35 C.
Formulas#
rodney_1954/eq1#
{
"id": "eq1",
"material": "SiO2",
"equation": "Eq. (1), p. 186",
"printed": "n^2 = 2.979864 + 0.008777808/(lambda^2 - 0.010609) - 84.06224/(96.00000 - lambda^2)",
"variable": "lambda: wavelength in um ('lambda expressed in microns'), the air wavelengths of the lines of Table 1 (see the source notes)",
"wavelength_medium": "standard_air",
"index_medium": "air",
"air_temperature_k": 297.15,
"parameters": {
"grade": "Heraeus B",
"temperature_k": 297.15
},
"range": "0.34669-3.5078 um (the 24 lines of Table 1); Heraeus B prism at 24 C; no index measured between about 2.4 and 3.2 um",
"coefficients": {
"A": "2.979864",
"B": "0.008777808",
"C": "0.010609",
"D": "84.06224",
"E": "96.00000"
},
"check": "Reproduces Table 1's computed index at all 24 wavelengths to its five printed decimals (largest difference 4.7e-6, within the rounding). Reproduces Table 2's 65 values within 1.1e-6: the 12 five-decimal values (0.34-0.39 um and 3.0-3.5 um) round alike (3.40 um lies on the rounding edge, 1.4089350 against the printed 1.40893); 13 of the 53 six-decimal values differ by one unit of the sixth decimal (largest 1.1e-6 at 0.51 um). Checked 2026-09-26."
}
‘The refractive indices of the Heraeus B prism at 24 C have been represented by means of the dispersion formula [6]’ (p. 186); ref. 6: ‘a modification of a formula adjusted by Rudolph Kingslake (private communication) to fit some of our preliminary data on this prism. It is similar to the formula that Rubens used for the ordinary index of quartz’. ‘no least-squares solution was attempted’ (p. 186). Relative to the room air at 24 C (inferred; see the source notes). The second pole, 96.00000 um^2 (9.80 um), enters with a minus sign: the formula is n^2 = A + B/(lambda^2 - C) + D/(lambda^2 - E), with D = -84.06224 in that reading. kitamura_2007 (its record) gives this formula’s temperature as 31 C; the paper says 24 C.
Corrections#
[
{
"dataset": "table3_30C",
"row": "0.70",
"column": "value",
"printed": "0.45541",
"corrected": "1.45541",
"reason": "The leading digit is misprinted: the index of silica at 0.70 um is near 1.455, and the row's neighbours are 1.45536 (25 C) and 1.45546 (35 C). Table 2's 1.455347 at 24 C plus 103e-7 x 6 K is 1.455409, which rounds to 1.45541.",
"evidence": "Page image (journal p. 188, pdf page 4, Table 3, last row): '0. 45541' in the t = 30 C column; the library cells agree. The rule stated on p. 189 (Eq. (1) plus the coefficient times the temperature change) reproduces 153 of the other 154 cells to the printed digit (0.60 um at 35 C differs by a rounding)."
}
]
Formula corrections, where recorded, appear with their formulas above. Curation notes may also discuss corrections or unresolved interpretation. Consult the review register for the checks and decisions.