emissivity.org Thermal radiative properties of materials

emissivity.org is the common reference point for laboratories and research groups working on the measurement, modelling, and engineering of the thermal radiative properties of materials.

It maintains the research map of the field, indexes its open data resources, documents measurement standards and good practice, and keeps the community calendar. Editorially maintained by the community; hosted at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU).

1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 2 5 10 15 20 25 wavelength λ / µm emissivity ε Reststrahlen band
Directional spectral emissivity of polycrystalline SiC at 873 K (θ = 0°), showing the characteristic Reststrahlen band near 10–12 µm. Illustrative curve — to be replaced by a data export from EKHI with full citation.

The research map

Full directory →

A curated directory of the non-commercial institutions where emissivity and thermal radiative properties are actively researched — from national metrology institutes to planetary spectroscopy and engineered thermal emission. Inclusion criteria, tier logic, and limitations are documented in the methodology. Last revision: 2026-06.

institutions
countries
core-tier laboratories
thematic ecosystems
Measurement & metrology laboratories Engineered emissivity (thermal photonics, radiative cooling) Each marker links to the institution's profile.
Institution Country Tier Representative capability
Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt Working Group 7.35 — Emissivity DE core Traceable spectral emissivity, −40 °C to ≈2300 °C, air and vacuum, near to far infrared.
CEMHTI — CNRS High-temperature radiative properties, Orléans FR core Spectral emissivity of ceramics, glasses, and refractories above 1500 K.
DLR Institute of Planetary Research Planetary Spectroscopy Laboratory, Berlin DE core Vacuum FTIR emissivity 0.3 to >100 µm, heated planetary-analog samples; Berlin Emissivity Database.
Thermomat / HAIRL — UPV/EHU Thermophysical properties group, Bilbao ES core FTIR directional spectral emissometry with uncertainty budget; maintainers of EKHI.
PROMES — CNRS Solar furnace facilities, Odeillo FR core High-temperature radiative properties under concentrated solar flux; selective absorbers.
National Institute of Standards and Technology Infrared radiometry and emittance metrology US core Infrared spectral emittance, radiance temperature, and radiometric standards.
Stanford University Fan Group — Ginzton Laboratory US engineered Radiative sky cooling; nanophotonic control of spectral and directional thermal emission.

Browse the full directory by country, tier, or ecosystem →

Open data resources

All resources →

The field's openly accessible databases of radiative and optical property data, each maintained by a member institution. Counts are exact and dated; every dataset is traceable to its source publication.

EKHI Thermomat / UPV/EHU · Bilbao
Open, publication-centred database of optical and thermal radiative properties of solid materials: curve-level spectral datasets with explicit provenance, machine-readable downloads, and citation tools. Described in Scientific Data (2026).
1 251 curves · 167 publications
0.05–1000 µm · counts at 2026-01
thermomat.ehu.eus/ekhi →
Berlin Emissivity Database DLR Institute of Planetary Research
Emissivity spectra of planetary-analog materials (minerals, regolith simulants) measured in vacuum, including heated samples for Mercury and Venus surface conditions. Supports the MERTIS instrument on BepiColombo.
planetary analogs · vacuum FTIR
maintainer profile →
ECOSTRESS Spectral Library NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Laboratory reflectance and emissivity spectra of natural and man-made materials (formerly the ASTER Spectral Library), widely used for land-surface temperature and emissivity retrieval.
natural + man-made materials
speclib.jpl.nasa.gov →
USGS Spectral Library U.S. Geological Survey, Spectroscopy Lab
Reference reflectance spectra of minerals, rocks, soils, vegetation, and man-made materials, used across remote sensing and as input for emissivity modelling.
version 7 · open access
maintainer profile →
2026-04-15
The 16th International Conference on New Developments and Applications in Optical Radiometry will be held in Jeju Island, South Korea, September 13-17, 2026.
Emissivity.org Editorial Board
2026-04-10
The 2nd IR-EMPOWER workshop on infrared emissivity measurement takes place at CAE in Würzburg, 28–29 September 2026. Registration is open; poster abstracts are due 31 July 2026.
Emissivity.org Editorial Board
2026-04-01
The 17th International Conference on Quantitative InfraRed Thermography will be held in Naples, Italy, June 29 - July 3, 2026.
Emissivity.org Editorial Board
2026-03-15
A new good practice guide on converting near-normal directional emissivity into hemispherical emissivity has been published on Zenodo.
Emissivity.org Editorial Board
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Upcoming meetings

Calendar →
8 Jun 2026
AIAA Thermophysics | San Diego, California, USA
21 Jun 2026
26 Jul 2026
ASME SHTC | Bellevue, Washington, USA
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Subscribe: iCal feed of all listed conferences and deadlines.

What is emissivity?

Definitions, directional and spectral quantities, and why a single "ε value" is rarely enough.

Methods & instruments

Direct radiometric emissometry, indirect reflectance methods, calorimetry — with their uncertainty budgets.

Standards & protocols

ISO and ASTM standards, the CCT-S1 international comparison, and community good-practice guides.

Applications

Non-contact thermometry, spacecraft thermal control, radiative cooling, remote sensing, energy systems.

The map, the calendar, and the bibliography are maintained by the community they describe.

If your laboratory belongs on the research map, if you have published data that should be indexed, or if you are organizing a meeting the community should know about — write to the editorial board. Inclusion follows the published methodology; every entry is verified against public institutional sources before it goes live.