Autocompensating interferometer for measuring the changes in refractive index of supercooled water as a function of temperature at 632.8 nm.

An interferometric arrangement that automatically compensates for thermal expansion was used to examine the changes in the refractive index of liquid water at 632.8 nm as a function of temperature from 10 to -15 degrees C. By combining the results of this research with existing data, we calculated the absolute refractive index in the supercooled region with an accuracy ranging from 3 x 10(-6) to 1 x 10(-6). A direct observation of the refractive-index maximum of water is reported for the first time to our knowledge and found to occur between 0 and 0.1 degrees C.