Refractive Index Measurement Using the Laser Profiler

Abstract The paper proposes a method for measuring the refractive index of the plane-parallel samples of the material using laser profiler. The method is based on measurement of the displacement due to refraction of the laser beam passing through a sample of known geometry. The developed method was used to measure the refractive index of gallium nitride on the range of optical wavelengths (470, 561 and 632 nm). The measurement error of the refractive index was 10 -3 . The experimentally obtained values of the refractive index match with the reference data within measurement error. The relative simplicity of the measurement procedures distinguishes this method.