ULTRAPRECISE MEASUREMENT OF THERMAL EXPANSION COEFFICIENTS

Abstract

New materials of low thermal expansion are finding wide application. The expansion coefficient (a) is a function of temperature, and this function must be known for each material before its applicability can be assessed. A novel method for determining a, which is at once precise and easily implemented, has been devised. It is based on the dependence of mode frequencies in a Fabry-Perot interferometer on the mirror separation. The expansion sample is formed into an interferometer spacer with ends polished flat and parallel. Spherical mirrors are optically contacted to the ends, forming a confocal interferometer. The assembly is maintained at controlled temperatures in an environmental chamber. The two lowest -order transverse modes are probed by variable -frequency sidebands derived from a 633 -nm He- Ne laser by amplitude modulation. A change in sample temperature AT causes a change in interferometer length AL, which shifts the resonance frequencies by Av. Then a = (1 /AT) (AL /L) _ - (1 /AT)(iv /v). Thus, a can be measured with precision limited ultimately by the stability of the source laser, in practice 1:109 with presently available commercial lasers. For a sample of Owens -Illinois Cer -Vit, a has been measured at 10 temperatures in the range 3.0 to 32.4 °C, with a mean error of 2 x10-9 and a maximum error of 3 x10 -9. For a sample of Corning ULE silica, a has been measured at six temperatures in the same range, with a mean error of <1 x10 -9 and a maximum error of <1.3 x10 -9.