Optik 127 (2016) 66826687

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Optik
journal homepage: www.elsevier.de/ijleo

Original research article

On the refractive index and photon mass

A.I. Arbab
Department of Physics, College of Science, Qassim University, P.O. Box 6644, 51452 Buraidah, Saudi Arabia

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 15 February 2016
Accepted 13 April 2016
PACS:
41.20.Jb
78.20.Ci
42.25.Bs
Keywords:
Refractive index
Massive photon
Longitudinal wave

a b s t r a c t
A new theoretical law for the refractive index is proposed. The law provides a limit to the
photon mass inside optical materials. Experimental data reveal that the rest-mass energy
of the photon inside a semiconductor or an insulator is found to be a few eV (m0 106 me ).
This energy could be related to the band gap energy of the material. The electric (optical) conductivity of the material is found to be related to the photon mass. The photon
kinetic energy
insidethe material, with a refractive index n, and rest-mass m0 c2 energy is,


n n2 1
2

. The skin depth inside the medium is + = ( /m0 ) at very high

EK = m0 c
n2 1

frequency, and = ( 2 /m0 c) at very low frequency.

2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The refractive index is a quantity that tells how a material deects light when passes into. It is dened as the ratio between
the velocity of light in vacuum to the phase velocity (vp ) of light in a medium, viz., n = c/vp . When light enters a medium
its wavelength () changes. The refractive index of materials varies with the wavelength. Recall that when white light is
incident on a prism the refracted light has several colors. That means each color (wavelength) has a different refractive index,

and hence refracted differently. There are two scenarios dening the wavelength in the medium by  = n, which is due to

Abraham, and the second one dening  = /n, is due to Minkowski [1,2]. It is recently shown that the two scenarios are
correct where the former is related to the kinetic momentum, while the latter is related to canonical momentum of light in
the medium [3]. The refractive index for visible light is generally greater than unity. Transparent media for visible light have
refractive indices in the range between 1 and 3. It is generally understood that the refractive index cannot be lower than
1. However, in the X-ray regime the refractive indices are lower than but very close to unity. This may appear problematic
with the theory of special relativity. For an electron transiting between the maximum of the valence band and the minimum
of the conduction band, or vice versa, the conservation of momentum, however, cannot be fullled with the absorption or
emission of a photon alone in an indirect semiconductor that because the magnitude of the momentum of a photon is several
orders of magnitude smaller than that of an electron in a semiconductor. This conservation can be reconciled if the emitted
phon had mass. We all understand that the photon behaves like a particle in the photoelectric and Compton effects, but no
mass is introduced to it.
Thus, the particle nature of the photon is only apparent if the photon exists inside a medium and not in vacuum (free
space) where it is massless. The rest-mass of the photon depends on the properties of the medium (e.g., refractive index)
in which it exists. It is thus inuenced by gravitational interactions while traveling inside the medium. Therefore, if we do

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A.I. Arbab / Optik 127 (2016) 66826687

6683

not live in a complete vacuum, photons would contribute much to the total mass of the universe. With this minute mass,
massive photons could resolve the dark matter and dark energy problems inicting our present theories of gravitation.
In 1931 Yakov Frenkel proposed the idea of an exciton that is a bound state of an electron and a hole that are attracted
to each other by the electrostatic Coulomb force [4]. It is an electrically neutral quasiparticle that exists in insulators, semiconductors and in some liquids. It is considered as an elementary excitation that can transport energy but not electric charge.
It is formed whenever a photon is absorbed by a semiconductor or an insulator. It thus excites an electron from the valence
band into the conduction band. It travels in a particle-like manner through the lattice.
Thus, the idea of massive photon could replace that of an exciton where the binding energy of the exciton is equal to the
rest-mass of the photon. The dynamics of the massive photon is shown in [5] and the references there in. One can dene an
effective classical radius of massive photon as r0 = (ke2 /m0 c2 ), where k is the Coulomb constant, which for a typical photon
rest-mass energy is of the order of some few nanometers.
We derive in this paper a dispersion law relating the refractive index to the wavelength of the incident light and the
rest-mass energy of the photon. This law relies on the hypothesis that the photon has a non-zero effective mass inside the
medium. The band gap of the material can be related to the photon rest-mass. Other optical properties resulting from this
law are investigated. We make comparison with the predicted values and the experimental data. We also outlined some
competing laws (models) relating the refractive index with the band gap energy.
2. Cauchy and Sellmeier equations
Optical materials can be properly designed by knowing its refractive index and the parameters related to it. Cauchy had
introduced an empirical formula for the refraction index of a medium, and its relation to wavelength of the incident light,
as [6]
n=A+

B
C
+ 4 + ,
2


(1)

where A, B and C are constants to be determined from the experiment. This formula works quite well for visible light. More
generally, for a transparent optical material a better relation applicable only to the transparent wavelength region, where
the absorption is negligible, is described by Sellmeier equation [6,7]
n2 = 1 +

B1 2
B1 2
B3 2
+ 2
+ 2
,
2 C1
 C2
 C3

(2)

where B1 , C1 , B2 , C2 , B3 , C3 are constants. The refractive index of a material changes also with temperature, pressure, etc.
Note that Sellmeier data are very useful for evaluating the chromatic dispersion of a material. The Sellmeier model is an
empirical model, which is basically used to describe the dependence of the refractive index in the transparent region. The
model assumes  to be zero so that [6,7]
n2 = A +

A2
,
2 B

(3)

where A and B are constants.

The wavelength dependence of the refractive index in optical wavelengths for various materials is often given by Feynman
as [8]
n=1+

Ne2
20 me (02 2 )

(4)

where 0 is a resonant frequency of an electron bound in an atom, and N is the charge number density. Light is absorbed by
the medium if its frequency is resonant with the transition frequencies of the atoms in the medium. If the light with intensity
I0 incident on the sample with thickness d, the intensity that is transmitted is expressed by the LambertBeerBouguer Law
as [9]
=

1
ln
d

1
T

(5)

where T is the transmittance that is related to the reectance by the relation T = 1 R. However, the transmission coefcient
is found experimentally by the relation [1012]
1
ln
=
d

(1 R)2
T

(6)

The dielectric constant of the material can be written as

2

= 1 i2 = (n i) ,

1 = n2 2 ,

2 = 2n,

(7)

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A.I. Arbab / Optik 127 (2016) 66826687

where  is called the extinction coefcient. Moreover, the electric conductivity of the material is related to 2 by the relation,
 = 2 0 . This can be written as
=

40 nc
.


(8)

However, above the transmission edge, the transmission coefcient is described by [13,14]
E = A(E Eg )n ,

(9)

where E is the incident photon energy, Eg is the band gap energy of the material, A and n are constants. It is found that n = 1/2
and 2 for direct and indirect allowed transitions of the material, respectively. The plot of (E)1/n versus the photon energy,
E is known as the Taucs plot [13].
Light with energy greater than the band gap energy of the material will be absorbed, while that with less energy than
the band gap will be transmitted. The absorption coefcient is related to the extinction coefcient by the relation [15,16]
=

4
.


(10)

Eqs. (8) and (10) yield the relation

 = n0 c,

=

4 n
.
0 c

(11)

This is an interesting relation connecting the electric conductivity to the refractive index and absorption coefcient.
An optical conductivity is normally dened as  O = nc/4 which is of special signicance [17,18]. This increases with the
frequency of the incident light.
Many theoretical and experimental investigations on the optical behaviour of thin lms are based on reection, transmission and absorption properties and their relation to the optical constants. The optical parameters of semimetal are obtained
from transmittance as well as absorbance and the lm thickness measurements.
For metals and other opaque media the normal incidence reectance R is given by
R=

(n 1)2 + 2
(n + 1)2 + 2

(12)

3. Optical properties of material

The basic optical properties of materials are obtained from ellipsometry by studying the change in the polarization of
light. This is done in terms of the amplitude ratio ( ) and the phase difference (
). Consequently, depending on the thickness
of the material under study, the optical constants can be determined. The electric eld of the incident light contains parallel
and vertical components to the plane of incident. The ratio of the two amplitudes is related to the phase difference by the
relation [19]
rp
= ei
tan( ),
rs

(13)

where rp and rs are the Fresnel reection coefcients for the p- and s-polarized light, respectively. Various particular algorithms are used to nd the refractive index n, the extinction constant , and other parameters. For this to work nely different
wavelengths are employed.
In particular, when a sample structure is simple, the amplitude ratio is characterized by the refractive index n, while

represents light absorption described by the extinction coefcient . In this case, the two values (n, ) can be determined
directly from the two ellipsometry parameters ( ,
) obtained from a measurement by applying the Fresnel equations. This
is the basic principle of ellipsometry measurement. Note that represents the angle determined from the amplitude ratio
between reected p- and s-polarizations, while
expresses the phase difference between reected p- and s-polarizations
[19].
There have been different empirical laws and formulae relating the refractive index to the energy band gap. Of these
models are the Moss equation [21]
n4 Eg = 95 eV,

(14)

the Ravindra equation

n = 4.084 0.62 Eg ,

(15)

and the HerveVandamme

n2 = 1 +

A
B + Eg

2

(16)

A.I. Arbab / Optik 127 (2016) 66826687

6685

where A=13.6 eV and B=3.47 eV are constants. Moreover, we have, respectively, the Reddy and Kumar and Singh equations
[21]
n4 (Eg 0.365) = 154,

(17)

n = KE Cg ,

(18)

and

where K = 3.3668 and C =0.32234.

4. Massive photon refractive index
Let us assume here that light has an effective mass (m0 ) inside the medium. In this case, one can write the relativistic
energy equation for the photon as
E  = mc 2 = m0 c 2 ,

1 v2 /c 2

(19)

Furthermore, inside the medium, one has

n=

(20)

n2 1

Substitute Eq. (20) in Eq. (19) to obtain

E  = m0 c 2

(21)

n2 1

Using Eq. (21), the photon momentum inside the material is given by
p = mv =

m0 c
.
n

(22)

Using Eq. (20), Eq. (22) yields

m0 c

p =

(23)

n2 1

The relativistic relation

E=

p c2

(24)

can be assumed to be valid inside the medium too, i.e.,

E =

p c 2

= p c n,

(25)

upon using Eq. (20). The relativistic equation in Eq. (24) is valid for all relativistic particles whether they are massive or
massless. Two scenarios for the photon momentum inside the medium are expounded; the rst one is due to Minkowski


where p = np and the second is due to Abraham where p = p/n. Applying these cases in Eq. (25) yields the two equations:
EM = n2 E.

EA = E,

(26)

Eq. (23) now yields the mass and refractive index due to Abraham model, viz.,
2c

n =

2c

2

mA0

h
=
c

n2 1
,
n

c =

h
.
m0 c

(27)

The Minkowski model yields

n2 =

1
+
2

2
1
+ 2,
4
c

mM
0 =

h  2
n n 1.
c

(28)

It is thus apparent that Minkowski model predicts a bigger mass and total energy for the photon in the medium. Abraham
model gives the same energy of the photon in the medium though its has a non-zero mass provided the relativistic Einstein
relation, Eq. (24), is valid.
The data of the dispersive refractive index may be analyzed using the single-effective-oscillator model that takes the
form [20]
n2 = 1 +

E0 Ed
E02 E 2

(29)

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A.I. Arbab / Optik 127 (2016) 66826687

where Ed is the oscillator strength or dispersion energy and E0 is the single-oscillator energy. Moreover, it is observed that
in Eq. (24) E0 2Eg .
Eqs. (27) and (28) can be used to nd the rest-mass energy of the photon inside the material due to Abraham and
Minkowski as

n2 1
,
n

E0A =

hc


E0M =

hc  2
n n 1,


and

E0A (eV ) =

1.243
(m)

E0M (eV ) =

n2 1
,
n

1.243  2
n n 1,
(m)

(30)

(31)

respectively.
Comparison of the experimental data with the formula in Eqs. (27) and (28) show that E0 can be related to the bandgap energy of the material. It should be understood that when the photon is emitted inside the material, as a result of the
excitation of the electron from the valence band to the conduction band, the emitted photon is not massless but has mass.
And since the photon transmits electric eld, then it will given rise to conduction.
The total energy of the photon inside the material is given by
E  = m0 c 2 + EK .

(32)

Upon using Eqs. (21), (30) and (31), the kinetic energy of the massive photon due to Abraham is

EKA

hc
=


n2 1
n

and that due to Minkowski is

EKM =


hc
n n n2 1 .


Hence, one obtains the relation

EKM = n2 EKA .
The analogy between matter and electromagnetic has given rise to a photonic conductivity of the type [5]
0 =

2m0
,
0 

(33)

that can be associated with the massive photons. It is evident that  0 has a quantum character. If this conductivity is equal
to that in Eq. (11), then one nds
m0 = n 

h
,
c

(34)

associated with the massive photon. Eq. (33) can be written as

0A,M =

2E0 0
,


0A,M = 2.6843 104 E0A,M 1 m1 ,

(35)

where E0 is measured in eV.

Since the conductivity of the material should somehow depend on the energy band gap of the material, then E0 has to be
related to Eg . Thus, it is apparent from Eq. (35) that increasing the rest-mass energy would tend to make the material more
conducting. The real part of the optical conductivity describes the dissipation of electromagnetic energy in the medium,
while the imaginary part describes screening of the applied eld. Therefore,  0 should represent the imaginary part of the
electric conductivity.
5. Electric eld due to massive photon
The electric eld due to massive photon is given by [5]
1 E
2m0 E
2 E +
+
 t
c 2 t 2
2

 mc 2


E = 0.

(36)

Assuming a plane wave solution in the medium of the form

E = E 0 exp i(k r t),

(37)

A.I. Arbab / Optik 127 (2016) 66826687

6687

yields the dispersion relation

k2 = 2 

 m c 2
0

2m0
i.


(38)

Now expressing k in a complex for, as k =  + i, yields

1
=
2

2 

 m c 2 2
0

4m20 2

1/2
2  +

2

 m c 2
0

1/2

In the very high frequency range ( m0 c2 /2 ), the skin depth ( = 1 ) is given by

 
+ =
,
m0
while the skin depth in the very low frequency rage is given by

2
=
.
m0 c

1 2
=
2 



2 2

2 1/2

n 2n + + 4

n +

1/2
,

(40)

(41)

Using Eq. (39), the skin depth in general becomes

1

(39)

n2 1
.
n2

(42)

6. Concluding remarks
We have presented in this paper a new dispersion law relating the refractive index to the wavelength of the incident light
and the photon mass inside the material. We also outlined several other competing empirical models hitherto known. The
derived law relies on the idea that photons inside the material have an effective mass. The rest-mass energy associated with
photons can be related to the energy band gap of the material. The model indicates that the mass of the photon inside the
material is of the order of a few eV. The relativistic relation E = c 2 p/v, where v is the speed of the massive photon, is found
to be valid for photons inside the material too. The electric (optical) conductivity is found to depend on the wavelength of
the incident light and the photon rest-mass energy inside the material. The penetration depth of the electromagnetic wave
inside the medium depends on the refractive index.
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[17]
[18]
[19]
[20]
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