Development of a Method for Measuring the Refractive Index of Infrared Optics

This work examines the methodology for measuring the refractive index of infrared optics using the minimum deviation method. Determining the refractive index in the infrared range is of great importance for the development and analysis of optical systems operating in this spectral region. In the theoretical part, an overview of refractive index measurement methods is provided, with the main focus on the minimum deviation method. The practical part describes the developed experimental setup, which includes an infrared light source, a prism made of the test material, and a detector. The refractive index was measured using the minimum deviation formula, considering the prism and minimum deviation angles. To facilitate and automate the calculations, a program with a graphical interface was developed in Python. Measurements of the refractive index were conducted for several types of infrared optics at various wavelengths ranging from 850 nm to 1000 nm. The results were compared with literature data, and their agreement was found to be within acceptable error margins. The conclusion formulates the main findings of the work and identifies prospects for further research in this area.