Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) Optical Material
Gallium arsenide is a non-glass, inorganic optical material. It has a fairly high thermal conductivity among the non-glass optical ceramics in the database. The graph bars on the material properties cards below compare gallium arsenide to other non-glass optical ceramics (top) and the entire database (bottom). A full bar means this is the highest value in the relevant set. A half-full bar means it's 50% of the highest, and so on.
Mechanical Properties
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus
85 GPa 12 x 106 psi
Knoop Hardness
750
Poisson's Ratio
0.31
Thermal Properties
Melting Onset (Solidus)
1400 °C 2550 °F
Specific Heat Capacity
360 J/kg-K 0.085 BTU/lb-°F
Thermal Conductivity
47 W/m-K 27 BTU/h-ft-°F
Thermal Expansion
5.6 µm/m-K
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
Density
5.3 g/cm3 330 lb/ft3
Light Transmission Range
1.0 to 16 µm
Refractive Index
3.4
Common Calculations
Stiffness to Weight: Axial
8.9 points
Stiffness to Weight: Bending
28 points
Thermal Diffusivity
25 mm2/s
Followup Questions
Further Reading
Handbook of Optical Materials, Marvin J. Weber, 2003
Handbook of Optical Constants of Solids, Edward D. Palik (editor), 1998