Photonics Dictionary

An optical resonator in which feedback is accomplished by two parallel planes. In diode lasers, the planes are obtained by cleaving, polishing, etching, etc.

A nonabsorbing, multireflecting device, similar in design to the Fabry-Perot interferometer, that serves as a multilayer, narrow-bandpass filter.

The series of rings when monochromatic light passes through a Fabry-Perot interferometer.

A multiple-beam interferometer, usually consisting of two flat plates, with high reflective ability. The plates are set parallel to one another by spacers so that lightwaves may bounce back and forth...

A laser oscillator in which two mirrors are separated by an amplifying medium with an inverted population, making a Fabry-Perot cavity. Standard diode lasers are Fabry-Perot lasers.

A means of determining a prism's index of refraction by placing the prism so that its emergent face is perpendicular to the incident beam. This arrangement permits the determination of the prism's...

A highly reflective mirror that is usually flat on one surface and curved on the other, and that has silver, gold or aluminum deposited on glass, providing about 99 percent reflection.

The spectroscopic analysis of interference patterns using a monochannel spectrometer, spectrograph or multichannel spectrometer with a Fabry-Perot interferometer to record the fringes.

The spectroscopic analysis of interference patterns using an electronic imaging tube with a Fabry-Perot interferometer to record the fringes.

A plane-parallel interferometer that yields extremely high contrast over a wide range of finesse values without significantly reducing transmission.

A grating that serves to provide higher resolution and dispersion than the average grating, and still has a greater free spectral range than either the Fabry-Perot etalon or the reflection echelon.

For a Fabry-Perot interferometer or etalon, a value for the transmission bandwidth which can be calculated as the ratio of the free spectral range to the full width half maximum of the transmission...

The frequency space between consecutive transmission peaks in the transmission spectrum of a Fabry-Perot interferometer or etalon. The free-spectral range is inversely proportional to the distance...

A laser system consisting of a planar PN junction within a single crystal of gallium arsenide. The pair of parallel, semireflective end faces produces a Fabry-Perot resonant cavity, whereas the other...

An interferometer similar in construction to a Fabry-Perot interferometer but having a rear mirror with high reflectivity, allowing light to escape only at the partially reflective front mirror.

Also known as constant angle or constant deviation fringes. The interference fringes observed with dense flat plates near normal incidence. The fringes of the Fabry-Perot interferometer are Haidinger...

A high-resolution spectroscopic device commonly used in the early 20th century as a component of double-beam interferometers. Light introduced at one end of the plane-parallel glass plate will be...

A microbubble resonator is a device used in photonics and optical physics for the precise manipulation of light waves. It consists of a micro-sized, gas-filled spherical cavity (the "microbubble")...

The pulse-to-pulse fluctuations in power distribution among modes of a Fabry-Perot laser, which can result in system-limiting noise.