Abstract

The effects of various types of imperfections on the transmission characteristics of a Fabry-Perot interferometer have been investigated experimentally. It was found that for light from a laser source, incident normally on an interferometer whose plates have a reflectivity in the neighborhood of 90%, angular misalignments as small as λ/25 could seriously degrade the peak value and half-width of the transmission curve. When an electrooptic crystal was added to make the interferometer function as a modulator, a further deterioration of performance was observed. The results were compared with theoretically derived transmission functions and found to be in satisfactory agreement.

© 1965 Optical Society of America

A Multichannel Fabry-Perot Interferometer

Joseph G. Hirschberg and Peter Platz
Appl. Opt. 4(11) 1375-1381 (1965)

Fringe broadening in Fabry-Perot interferometers

G. J. Sloggett
Appl. Opt. 23(14) 2427-2432 (1984)

Pressure-scanned three-pass Fabry-Perot interferometer

L. N. Durvasula and Robert W. Gammon
Appl. Opt. 17(20) 3298-3303 (1978)

Sparrow Limit of Spectral Resolution in the Reflection Echelon and the Fabry-Perot Interferometer Having Surface Imperfections

K. Singh and G. S. Bhatnagar
Appl. Opt. 9(10) 2326-2331 (1970)

Experimental study of the effect of surface defects on the finesse and contrast of a Fabry–Perot interferometer

E. D. Palik, Hacène Boukari, and Robert W. Gammon
Appl. Opt. 35(1) 38-50 (1996)