Herbert Smith Memorial Lecture: The Refractometer and Other Refractive Index Methods

1955 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 166-178
Author(s):  
B. W. Anderson
Author(s):  
W. E. Lee

An optical waveguide consists of a several-micron wide channel with a slightly different index of refraction than the host substrate; light can be trapped in the channel by total internal reflection.Optical waveguides can be formed from single-crystal LiNbO3 using the proton exhange technique. In this technique, polished specimens are masked with polycrystal1ine chromium in such a way as to leave 3-13 μm wide channels. These are held in benzoic acid at 249°C for 5 minutes allowing protons to exchange for lithium ions within the channels causing an increase in the refractive index of the channel and creating the waveguide. Unfortunately, optical measurements often reveal a loss in waveguiding ability up to several weeks after exchange.


Author(s):  
Walter C. McCrone

An excellent chapter on this subject by V.D. Fréchette appeared in a book edited by L.L. Hench and R.W. Gould in 1971 (1). That chapter with the references cited there provides a very complete coverage of the subject. I will add a more complete coverage of an important polarized light microscope (PLM) technique developed more recently (2). Dispersion staining is based on refractive index and its variation with wavelength (dispersion of index). A particle of, say almandite, a garnet, has refractive indices of nF = 1.789 nm, nD = 1.780 nm and nC = 1.775 nm. A Cargille refractive index liquid having nD = 1.780 nm will have nF = 1.810 and nC = 1.768 nm. Almandite grains will disappear in that liquid when observed with a beam of 589 nm light (D-line), but it will have a lower refractive index than that liquid with 486 nm light (F-line), and a higher index than that liquid with 656 nm light (C-line).


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