Dispersion and refractive index measurements of diluted solutions with a double prism refractometer

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a method to determine refractive index changes and its dispersion of diluted solutions by analyzing the refraction of light by a hollow prism containing the medium to be characterized. The system uses a double prism refractometer to compensate the dispersion of the medium and the output beam is analyzed with a spectrophotometer resulting in a faster measurement with a simple setup. The system was calibrated using solutions of sucrose in water. We present experimental results of the characterization and monitoring of water oxidation as an example of potential applications.