Volume 223, 2020
From the journal:

Faraday Discussions

Designing refractive index fluids using the Kramers–Kronig relations†

Tianqi Sai,ab   Matthias Saba, ORCID logo a   Eric R. Dufresne, ORCID logo b   Ullrich Steiner ORCID logo *a  and  Bodo D. Wilts ORCID logo *a  

* Corresponding authors

a Adolphe Merkle Institute, University of Fribourg, Chemin des Verdiers 4, CH-1700 Fribourg, Switzerland
E-mail: ullrich.steiner@unifr.ch, bodo.wilts@unifr.ch

b Department of Materials, ETH Zürich, Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 5, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland

Abstract

For a number of optical applications, it is advantageous to precisely tune the refractive index of a liquid. Here, we harness a well-established concept in optics for this purpose. The Kramers–Kronig relation provides a physical connection between the spectral variation of the (real) refractive index and the absorption coefficient. In particular, a sharp spectral variation of the absorption coefficient gives rise to either an enhancement or reduction of the refractive index in the spectral vicinity of this variation. By using bright commodity dyes that fulfil this absorption requirement, we demonstrate the use of the Kramers–Kronig relation to predictively obtain refractive index values in water solutions that are otherwise only attained with toxic specialised liquids.

Graphical abstract: Designing refractive index fluids using the Kramers–Kronig relations

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/D0FD00027B
Article type
Paper
Submitted
26 Feb 2020
Accepted
26 Mar 2020
First published
22 Apr 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Faraday Discuss., 2020,223, 136-144

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Designing refractive index fluids using the Kramers–Kronig relations

T. Sai, M. Saba, E. R. Dufresne, U. Steiner and B. D. Wilts, Faraday Discuss., 2020, 223, 136 DOI: 10.1039/D0FD00027B

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