Using dispersion staining colors and glass standards of known refractive index to determine the refractive index of liquids

Abstract

A method has been developed for measuring the refractive index of liquids microscopically that employs glass reference standards of known refractive index and dispersion staining. The dispersion staining color is converted to a refractive index value that is added (or subtracted) to the refractive index value of the glass standard to obtain the refractive index of the liquid. The method is particularly suited for quality control checking of the refractive index of those immersion oils used in the detection and identification of asbestos by polarized light microscopy.