Measurement of refractive-index change at a liquid-solid interface close to the critical angle

We measured the refractive-index change on a liquid sample, using the reflection of a polarized Gaussian laser beam close to the angle of total reflection. We applied this technique to a solution of nickel (II) phthalocyanine tetrasulfonated (NiPTS) in water-ethanol (1/1 v/v), in which the nonlinearity of the refractive index is due to optically induced thermal effects. We show that close to the angle of total reflection the sensitivity of this technique is four times bigger than at normal incidence. © 2000 Optical Society of America.