Optical responses from high entropy alloysNominé, Alexandre (Avtor) Solomonov, Alexander I. (Avtor) Polanšek, Juš (Avtor) Zavašnik, Janez (Avtor) Cvelbar, Uroš (Avtor) Milichko, Valentin A. (Avtor) high entropy alloysoptical propertiesHigh-entropy alloys (HEAs) combine five or more elements in near-equiatomic ratios, opening an immense compositional space whose optical behaviour is still largely unknown. Phase-modulated ellipsometry on bulk CrMnFeCoNi (Cantor) shows that its intrinsic optical constants n, k, ε1, ε2 deviate strongly from the arithmetic mean of the constituent elements—by up to a factor of two beyond 1 µm—yet the derived functional responses, reflectance R and absorption coefficient α, are reproduced to within ~20 %. Cantor nanoparticles have been produced by nanosecond electric discharges in liquid nitrogen. Dark-field spectroscopy and Mie calculations reveal a dominant scattering mode near 100 nm that red-shifts and broadens with increasing size; the steady-state photothermal rise calculated from absorption cross-section σabs falls between those of the constituent pure metals.Generalising the averaging rule, we compute proxy values of R and α for 10 994 density-functional-theory-predicted HEAs. Successive optical, thermal and resource filters condense the space to 58 candidates at 355 nm and eight refractory alloys at 1064 nm, illustrating a “sustainable-by-design” route for future HEA photonics.The Royal Society of Chemistry 20262026-09-10 09:38:00Neznano32403UDK: 620.1/.2ISSN pri članku: 1364-5498DOI: 10.1039/D5FD00086FCOBISS_ID: 248791811Združeno kraljestvosl© 2026 The Author(s).