Refractive index measurements of liquids from 0.5 to 2 µm using Rayleigh interferometry

There is growing interest in the refractive index of liquids beyond the visible and into the short-wave infrared (SWIR) for applications such as the study of liquid-core fibers and supercontinuum generation. However, most of the data reported are in the visible. For liquids with a wide transmission window in the SWIR region, refractive index data are sparse. We present a Rayleigh interferometry-based refractometer to characterize the refractive index relative to standard materials at seven different wavelengths (543.4, 632.8, 780, 973, 1064, 1550, and 1970 nm) at a temperature of ~ 21.3 ± 0.6 °C. We also show Sellmeier fits using our results juxtaposed with previously published data. Our data extends previous work to the SWIR.