Abstract
Fabry-Perot (FP) etalons are used as filters and sensors in a range of optical systems. The reflected and transmitted fields associated with an FP etalon have traditionally been predicted by the Airy function, which assumes a plane wave illumination. FP etalons are, however, often illuminated by non-collimated beams, rendering the Airy function invalid. To address this limitation, we describe the angular Airy function which calculates the reflected and transmitted fields for arbitrary illumination beams, using angular spectrum decomposition. Combined with realistic models of the experimental illumination beams and detection optics, we show that the angular Airy function can accurately predict experimental wavelength resolved intensity measurements. Based on the angular Airy function, we show that the fundamental operating principle of an FP etalon is as an angular-spectral filter. Based on this interpretation we explain the asymmetry, broadening and visibility reduction seen on wavelength resolved intensity measurements from high Q-factor FP etalons illuminated with focused Gaussian beams.
Highlights
A Fabry-Perot (FP) etalon is an optical cavity formed between two parallel mirrors [1]
The angular Airy function was discussed as a model to calculate the fields reflected and transmitted by an FP etalon, requiring knowledge of only the mirror reflectivities and optical cavity thickness
We have shown that Interferometer Transfer Function (ITF) predicted with the angular Airy function accurately match experimental data, validating the angular Airy function
Summary
A Fabry-Perot (FP) etalon is an optical cavity formed between two parallel mirrors [1]. We generalize the angular Airy function to calculate both the reflected and transmitted fields from an FP etalon We used it to simulate an experimental FP etalon based optical system using a description of the illumination beam and detection optics representative of our experiment. (i) no phase change is experienced by light due to transmission by the mirrors, (ii) the phase of light upon mirror reflection is assumed to remain constant or change by a π factor dependent on light direction of propagation, and (iii) mirrors are assumed to be non-absorbing [9] As these assumptions mimic the optical behaviour of dielectric mirrors, the angular Airy function is valid for modelling FP etalons with dielectric mirrors. A dielectric multilayer model is valid [11]
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