The optical properties of liquid indium, cadmium, bismuth and antimony

Abstract

The optical constants of liquid indium, cadmium, bismuth and antimony have been measured by a reflection method for wave numbers between 4000 and 27 000 cm⁻¹ (wavelengths 2.5 to 0.37 microns). For at least part of this spectral range the experimental values agree with the Drude free electron formulae if the effective number of free electrons per atom, N ₀, and their relaxation time, τ, are treated as adjustable parameters. The values of N ₀ exceed the numbers of valence electrons per atom by between 5 and 20%. The values of the static electrical conductivity calculated from N ₀ and τ are closely correlated with the electrically measured values.