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Energy Unit Conversions


As the field of plasmonics continues to become more interdisciplinary, it is essential to be able to convert between different units of energy by memory.  When reading papers, attending talks, having conversations with colleagues, and answering questions in your own presentations, you should always know exactly where a certain measurement lies in the electromagnetic spectrum, regardless of units.

For quick conversions, enter a value into any of the boxes below, and the remaining units will be calculated automatically.  Further below is a table that gives unit conversion factors and spectral ranges relevant to plasmonics.


Energy Unit Conversions


   eV  nm  cm-1  THz  fs
         Conversion Factors*  1 1240  8065.6  241.8  4.136 
         Ultraviolet (UV)  124 - 3.26  10 - 380  1000000 - 26300  30000 - 789  0.0334 - 1.27 
         
         Visible (Vis)         
             Violet 3.26 - 2.85  380 - 435  26300 - 23000  789 - 689  1.27 - 1.45 
             Blue 2.85 - 2.48  435 - 500  23000 - 20000  689 - 600  1.45 - 1.67 
             Cyan 2.48 - 2.38  500 - 520  20000 - 19200  600 - 577  1.67 - 1.73 
             Green 2.38 - 2.19  520 - 565  19200 - 17700  577 - 531  1.73 - 1.88 
             Yellow 2.19 - 2.10  565 - 590  17700 - 16900  531 - 508  1.88 - 1.97 
             Orange 2.10 - 1.98  590 - 625  16900 - 16000  508 - 480  1.97 - 2.08 
             Red 1.98 - 1.65  625 - 750  16000 - 13300  480 - 400  2.08 - 2.50 
         
         Near Infrared (NIR)  1.65 - 0.496  750 - 2500  13300 - 4000  400 - 120  2.50 - 8.34 
         
         Mid-Infrared (MIR)  496 - 124 meV 2.5 - 10 µm  4000 - 1000  120 - 30  8.34 - 33.4 
         
 Far Infrared (FIR)  124 - 12.4 meV 10 - 100 µm  1000 - 100 30 - 3.0 33.4 - 334
         
         Terahertz Regime  41.4 - 1.24 meV  30 µm - 1 mm  334 - 10  10 - 0.3  100 - 3340 
*Units are eV/eV, nm*eV, cm-1/eV, THz/eV, and fs*eV, respectively



Relevant Formulas:
E = hc/λ
ν = c/λ
σ = 1/λ
T = 1/ν
where:
E = eV
λ = m
σ = m-1
T = s
ν = s-1 = Hz
h = 4.135667516 x 10-15 eV*s
c = 299792458 m/s


Handy Software: