Determination of refractive index of liquids and glasses using developed computer controlled laser displacement method

Refractive index knowledge is one of important parameter when physical properties of materials are investigated. It is also known that temperature variation and wavelength are also effect on the measurement results when materials are characterized. Therefore fast and accurate measurements are needed to measure especially refractive index properties of material. In order to cover this poverty we established we established a computer controlled an optical facility in National Metrology Institute of Turkey, based on laser beam displacement technique. Basic components of established facility are laser sources, sample holder, knife-edges and detectors. In order to compensate fluctuations arising from laser instability we used electro optic modulator that kept the intensity of lasers stable at around 10(-5). A temperature controlled sample holder was used to measure temperature dependence of materials. The displacement of laser beam was determined using knife-edge, which moved using a computer controlled servomotor. The refractive index than was found from displaced laser peak signal using designed trap detectors based on three single-element silicon photodiodes.