Two optical techniques, m-lines and spectroscopic ellipsome-try, are compared for their suitability for obtaining the wavelength and the temperature dispersion of the refractive index of thin-film layers used in gas detector devices. Two types of materials that are often integrated into gas sensors are studied: a polymer organic–inorganic blend deposited by spin coating typically used in near-infrared waveguides and the ceramic semiconductor SrTi1−x Fex O3 (strontium titanate) doped with iron at concentrations x ¼ 0.075 and 0.1 deposited by electron beam deposition. The refractive index dispersion obtained by m-lines and ellipsometry is compared, and the differences between the measured parameters for the two materials are discussed. The chromatic dispersion will be represented by a three-term Cauchy law. An intuitive method for verifying the measured indices using an integrating sphere and reflexion coefficient modelingtechniques are also demonstrated. Thermo-optic coefficients in the order of −1 ×10−4∕K for both materials are reported, and very low chromatic dispersions are also measured, thanks to the high sensitivity of them-lines technique. The uniaxial anisotropic properties of the polymerblend films are measured and discussed in the case of the semiconductor films.