Optical Glass Lookup Chart

This is a spreadsheet sourced from various manufacturers’ product catalogs and datasheets.

It is meant to provide a direct comparison as well as an integrated lookup table across different manufacturers. Often in literature, such as textbooks, patents, design references and many more, optical glasses are referred only with their index and Abbe (nd and vd), or with their SKU typecode only, making it difficult to really see the differences from glass to glass, especially to distinguish differences in partial dispersion and internal transmissions.

This chart seeks to minimize that problem. 601 different optical glasses from 4 of the most common manufacturers have been collected, as well as fluorite and fused silica each from three different sources.

Each of them was listed with corresponding index and Abbe numbers of the five most common visible spectral lines, C, d, e, F and g, select dispersion and relative partials, Sellmeier coefficients up to the third term, and lastly appended with internal transmittance values across the spectrum and λ0.80/0.05 color codes. Additional properties, of precision molding and i-line capability when provided, is also listed for easy filtering.

“Classification” is roughly grouped based on optical properties, and is not strictly based on the primary doping ingredient. Barites, borosilicates, fluorosilicates, and some very light flints, are all grouped into Silicates as they occupy roughly the same region on the glass map and optically are of very similar uses. A number of distinctions are arbitrary and are based on conventions. The line between Phosphates and Fluorides is drawn between vd = 67, although in reality some very dense fluorides (e.g. S-FPM2, FCD515, J-PSKH1) they do in fact behave very close to phosphate glasses nearby (e.g. S-PHM53, PCD51, J-PSK03, although their physical and mechanical properties do differ a bit more than their optical properties).

Similar logic goes to Niobophsphates and very dense Titanates, where in fact Niobophosphates optically are essentially the same as the latter, but only on steroids. The arbitrary line between the two is drawn between nd = 1.80, as mechanically and physically they start to show some differences starting from there. Niobophosphates and Niobozirconates are not further divided into two groups, even though their partial dispersion behaviors are almost opposites. These two groups are of so different uses that they are unlikely to get in each other’s way, and for the sake of simplicity and the purpose of fast lookups, a large group of Niobates is used to categorize the two.

Find the spreadsheet as a OneDrive Shared Document or Download at Dropbox

The OneDrive file will be updated on-the-fly and the link is thus permanent. The Dropbox document was last updated on Mar. 13 2021.

The respective data in the spreadsheet is used and organized here for research and educational purposes only, under the non-commercial fair-use policies.

The manufacturers of these respective materials owns the original data and the copyright. I only organized, and thus do not possess ownership of these items. This page may be removed upon requests.

You may use the above spreadsheet for further research purposes, only under the use policies of their original owners or the fair-use legislation.