Spectral curve fitting of dielectric constants

Abstract

Optical constants are important properties governing the response of a material to incident light. It follows that they are often extracted from spectra measured by absorbance, transmittance or reflectance. One convenient method to obtain optical constants is by curve fitting. Here, model curves should satisfy Kramer-Kronig relations, and preferably can be expressed in closed form or easily calculable. In this study we use dielectric constants of three different molecular ices in the infrared region to evaluate four different model curves that are generally used for fitting optical constants: (1) the classical damped harmonic oscillator, (2) Voigt line shape, (3) Fourier series, and (4) the Triangular basis. Among these, only the classical damped harmonic oscillator model strictly satisfies the Kramer-Kronig relation. If considering the trade-off between accuracy and speed, Fourier series fitting is the best option when spectral bands are broad while for narrow peaks the classical damped harmonic oscillator and the Triangular basis fitting model are the best choice.