The Gladstone–Dale relation: Applications in oxide glasses

Abstract The Gladstone–Dale relation is among one of the many formulae put forward in the 19th century to try and relate the index of refraction and density of a material. Compared to other relations of the time, the Gladstone–Dale relation is advantageous as it is relatively simple to use. It has been suggested that the Gladstone–Dale relation can be used as a reliable way to calculate the index of refraction for oxide glasses because of the additive nature of the relation, making it ideal for glass compositions. The reliability of the Gladstone–Dale relation with regards to its use in glass science has been explored. Various oxide glass systems that use different network formers, conditional network formers, modifying oxides, and dopants have been obtained from the literature to determine the reliability of the relation with regards to index‐of‐refraction calculations. The benefits and faults of the relation are discussed, and it was found that it is not universally applicable for all glass compositions.