14 research outputs found
Advanced laboratory exercise: studying the dispersion properties of a prism pair
A laboratory exercise has been developed in the frames of a
new course called "Advanced undergraduate laboratory in
femtosecond optics", which aims to study the dependence of
the dispersion of a prism pair on the positions of the
prisms. For the dispersion measurement we chose a relatively
simple technique, called white light spectral interferometry.
The prism pair consisting of two identical fused silica
prisms was placed in the sample arm of a Michelson-
interferometer illuminated with a tungsten halogen lamp. The
interferograms were observed with a low resolution
spectrometer in order to have a wide detection range (200-
1100 nm). Measurements were performed by adjusting the
optical path length in the second prism. The data was
evaluated with the cosine-function fit method. Using the
formalism of Fork the phase derivatives were theoretically
calculated as well. The dependence of the dispersion
coefficients on the displacement of the second prism agree
well with the measurements. Using white light is advantageous
as its broad wavelength range facilitates the retrieval of
the spectral phase with high precision in a wide range.
Furthermore, white light sources are relatively low-cost and
safe in contrast to ultrashort laser sources. © COPYRIGHT
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