Measurement of dispersive properties of optical materials and mirrors using spectrally resolved white-light interferometry

We present a simple, accurate and inexpensive interferometric technique based on the spectrally resolved white-light interferometry to determine the group-delay dispersion of optical elements, such as laser crystals and multilayer mirrors. Due to the different dispersion properties of these elements, different evaluation methods of the interference fringes are used for the mirrors and crystals. The reproducibility of our measurements is +/- 5 fs2 and +/- 3% for mirrors and crystals, respectively, with high spectral resolution over a broad spectra range (700 - 900 nm). These dispersion data are important for the construction of compact femtosecond solid-state lasers.