Vacuum ultraviolet Mach-Zehnder interferometer with CaF(2) optics.

A VUV Mach-Zehnder interferometer has been equipped with CaF(2) optics. To test these, the hook method was used to measure the oscillator strength of the 146.9610-nm (1)S(0)-(3)P(0)(1) line of atomic xenon. The result, f = 0.244 +/- 0.015, is in agreement with data obtained by other techniques. We conclude, as a result of this work, that application of our Mach-Zehnder interferometer to hook method measurements of oscillator strengths of lines with wavelengths longer than ~150 nm will be routine, but that such measurements below that wavelength limit must await development of more intense VUV continuum sources.