Abstract
IF the mirrors of a Michelson interferometer, illuminated by monochromatic radiation of wave-length λ, are in the zero path-difference position, the insertion into one arm of a plane-parallel specimen of refractive index n and thickness t, placed so that the angle of incidence is θ, produces a path-difference x(θ) given by: If the specimen is rotated so that the angle of incidence changes from 0 to θ the path difference increases by the amount: and as a result m fringes pass the detector where: (2) and (3) may be combined and re-arranged to yield the linear relation: where: from which n is easily found either by direct calculation for each pair of y and x or from the slope of a straight line plot of (y + 1) against x.
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References
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Gebbie, H. A., Stone, N. W. B., Findlay, F. D., and Pyatt, E. C., Nature, 205, 377 (1965).
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CHAMBERLAIN, J., GEBBIE, H. Determination of the Refractive Index of a Solid using a Far Infra-red Maser. Nature 206, 602–603 (1965). https://doi.org/10.1038/206602a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/206602a0
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