Refractive index of standard oils as a function of wavelength and temperature

Abstract The refractive indices (n) of eight standard oils from Physikalisch Technische Bundesanstalt, Germany were determined with an accuracy of ±1×10−4 by using Abbe Refractometer. The measurements were performed at temperature 20°C in the spectral range 0.4– 0.7 μm . The experimental data were fitted to the simple Cauchy dispersion formula and the results were found to be consistent within the limits of experimental error. In all cases, the refractive index decreased monotonically with increasing wavelength. The refractive indices (n) of these oils have been measured as a function of the temperature t (20° C up to 50°C) at λ=0.589 μm and were found to have linear temperature dependencies. The refractive indices of the studied oils and the uncertainty in their values are calculated at λ=0.589. The Lorentz–Lorenz (L–L) formula has been tested and it was found to be valid with a maximum deviation of 0.4% and was used to calculate the molecular polarizability θ.