Simultaneous measurement of thermo-optic and thermal expansion coefficients with a single arm double interferometer

A low-cost single arm double interferometer was developed for the concurrent measurement of linear thermal expansion (α) and thermo-optic (dn/dT) coefficients of transparent samples with plane and parallel surfaces. Owing to its common-path optical arrangement, the device is compact and stable, and allows the simultaneous measurement of interferences arising from a low-finesse Fabry-Perot etalon and from a Mach-Zehnder-type interferometer. The method was demonstrated with measurements of solid (silica, BK7, SF6) and liquid (water, ethanol and acetone) samples.