The necessary requirements imposed on polar dielectric laser dye solvents

Abstract

A laser Mach–Zehnder interferometeric technique is applied to measure the refractive index n and its thermo-optic coefficient d n/d T for five important pure polar dielectric laser dye solvents (water, methanol, ethyleneglycol, butanol and acetic acid). The measurements are carried out using the argon-ion laser wavelength 514.5 nm, and He–Ne laser of λ=632.8 nm. Applying the empirical relationship of Cauchy between the refractive index and wavelength, the following properties are calculated and represented: The refractive index, the thermo-optic constant −d n/d T, the optical dispersion −d n/d λ as a function of wavelength and Cauchy's constants against temperature. On the other hand, a discussion for comparison between the investigated solvents are given.