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Optical properties (refractive index and birefringence) of WO 3 thin films exhibiting columnar and zigzag nanostructures deposited by GLancing Angle Deposition are analyzed. The influence of the incident angle α of the sputtered particles and the number of zigzags N on these optical properties is determined. The experimental results show that refractive index of zigzag nanostructures evolves with the number of zigzags from n N = 0.5 = 2.02 to n N = 8 = 2.05 through a maximum n N = 4 = 2.29. The birefringence of columnar structures exhibits a similar trend when α changes from 0 to 80°. Birefringence of columnar and zigzag structures reaches both a maximum when α = 50° (Δ n α = 50° = 0.025). Experimental results favorably agree with the simulated ones calculated by means of the MEEP FDTD code. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]