White-light interferograms provide a simple, accurate, and physically intuitive picture of what happens to broadband optical pulses on transmission through, or reflection from, common optical materials. Quantitative measurement of group delay are made with an accuracy of ±0.1 fs and with high spectral resolution. This measurement accuracy is applied to the determination of d2n/dλ2 and d3n/dλ3 of fused silica with an accuracy of ±5 × 10−5 µm−2 and ±1 × 10−3 µm−3, respectively. Further applications are found in the measurement of the dispersion of broadband mirrors and a multiple-quantum-well structure.