refractometer and method for measuring the refractive index, or the variation of refractive index of refraction of a fluid or viscous body

摘要

The method uses a luminous source (5) consisting of selectable lasers and optical components able to project a thin ray of parallel light into a prismatic tank (3) via a deviating unit (54). The prismatic tank contains two parallel sided plates arranged in V-formation at an angle between 58 and 62 deg. The prismatic tank (3) containing the test sample may be rotated on a plate (15) attached to an arm (17) which also supports the detection unit (7). The detection unit uses two photosensitive half discs whose output is fed to a comparator (65). A calculator (9) with memory and display (12,11) enables a refractive index to be found from successive measurements with and without the sample in the prismatic tank.