How does a Fabry-Perot cavity work?

How does a Fabry-Perot cavity work?

In gravitational wave detection, a Fabry–Pérot cavity is used to store photons for almost a millisecond while they bounce up and down between the mirrors. This increases the time a gravitational wave can interact with the light, which results in a better sensitivity at low frequencies.

Who invented Fabry-Perot interferometer?

The Fabry-Pérot interferometer (variable-gap interferometer) was produced in 1897 by the French physicists Charles Fabry and Alfred Pérot. It consists of two highly reflective and strictly parallel plates called an etalon.

What is the purpose of a Fabry-Perot interferometer?

A typical application of a Fabry–Pérot interferometer is to check whether a laser operates on a single resonator mode or on multiple modes. High-finesse Fabry–Pérot interferometers are also used as reference cavities and for spectral analysis.

What is finesse in Fabry-Perot interferometer?

In order to have a measure of the sharpness the term finesse has been introduced. It is the ratio between the distance of two neighbour peaks (Fig. 3) and their halfwidth. The finesse of a Fabry-Pérot interferometer can be pushed up to > 200.

What is Fabry-Perot modes?

Fabry–Perot lasers have their frequency controlled by the spacing of mirrors at each end of the laser. The frequency control mechanism is such that the laser can oscillate simultaneously, or jump in rapid succession, to several wavelengths that are close to each other. This is sometimes called mode hopping.

How does Fabry-Perot interferometer work?

The Fabry-Perot interferometer uses the phenomenon of multiple beam interference that arises when light shines through a cavity bounded by two reflective parallel surfaces. Each time the light encounters one of the surfaces, a portion of it is transmitted out, and the remaining part is reflected back.

What is Fabry-Perot interferometer used for?

The Fabry–Perot interferometer is widely used as a high-resolution spectrometer to study the fine structure of spectral lines (see Section 14.2).

What does a Fabry-Perot interferometer do?

A Fabry-Perot interferometer is a device that uses multiple beam interference of light for high resolu- tion spectroscopy. The Fabry-Perot interferometer is useful because the conditions for which the device produces constructive interference are very strict so that its resolution can be very high.

What are advantages of Fabry-Perot interferometer over Michelson interferometer?

It has also proved that Fabry-Perot interferometers are more apt to resist environmental disturbances than general Michelson interferometers, because of their common optical path structure.

What is Fabry-Perot antenna?

Fabry-Perot Cavity Antennas (FPAs) are a type of highly directive planar antennas that offer a promising alternative to standard planar microstrip patch arrays or waveguide slot array antennas.

What is Fabry-Perot cavity antenna?