Spectrographic technique for determining refractive indices

A new experimental technique is proposed to determine refractive indices of liquids and isotropic solids at different wavelengths. A Pellin-Broca hollow prism filled with a liquid sample produces the spectrum (of the liquid prism) on the photographic plate of the camera. A plane reflector, mounted at a small angle to the normal of the exit face of the prism, also forms a direct image of the collimator slit in the plane of the same photographic plate. All the necessary information for determining the refractive indices (for different wavelengths) is extracted directly from the spectrogram without using any goniometric system. Experiments are conducted with the liquid prisms of isopropyl alcohol, water, and benzene. The results of the experiments are compared with those obtained by a Pulfrich refractometer (critical angle method). The proposed new technique gives the refractive indices for visible and invisible spectral lines to an accuracy of 2x10(-5). (C) 1997 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.