A Fabry-Perot interferometer is an optical instrument consisting of two closely spaced, highly reflective parallel mirrors that form a resonant cavity, so that light of particular wavelengths interferes constructively as it reflects repeatedly between the mirrors, producing a transmission spectrum with extremely narrow, sharply defined peaks. Invented in 1899 by the French physicists Charles Fabry and Alfred Perot, the instrument offered far higher spectral resolution than earlier diffraction-based spectroscopes, making it possible to resolve fine and hyperfine structure in atomic spectral lines that other instruments of the era could not distinguish. Fabry-Perot interferometers remain widely used today in laser design, where the cavity itself often forms the resonator that generates laser light, as well as in precision spectroscopy, astronomical instrumentation and telecommunications, where the same principle underlies optical filters used to isolate individual wavelength channels.
Facts
Invented YearSourced to the subject's own account MeasuresSourced to the subject's own accountThe wavelength of light, by controlling which optical wavelengths resonate within the cavity between its two reflecting surfaces. 1 Operating PrincipleSourced to the subject's own accountTwo parallel reflecting surfaces form a cavity through which light passes only when it is in resonance with the cavity spacing. 1 ResolutionSourced to the subject's own accountResolving power is expressed through the cavity's finesse, defined consistently with the Taylor criterion for a spectrometer's resolution. 1 Operating RangeSourced to the subject's own accountDifferent free spectral ranges let Fabry-Perot etalons in wavemeters and spectrum analyzers pin down light wavelength with great precision. 1 Classification
Instrument ClassSourced to the subject's own account Connections
Used In
Optics, Disciplines The Fabry-Perot interferometer uses multiple-beam interference between two reflective surfaces to resolve fine spectral structure, a core optics instrument devised by Charles Fabry and Alfred Perot in 1899.
Sources
1. Fabry-Perot Interferometer (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLead section
Optical waves can pass through the optical cavity only when they are in resonance with it.
Scanning the Fabry-Perot resonator: Airy linewidth and finesse section
This definition of the Airy finesse is consistent with the Taylor criterion of the resolution of a spectrometer.
Optical Instruments section
Optical wavemeters and some optical spectrum analyzers use Fabry-Pérot interferometers with different free spectral ranges to determine the wavelength of light with great precision.
Lede, instrument class
A Fabry-Perot interferometer is an optical instrument consisting of two closely spaced, highly reflective parallel mirrors that form a resonant cavity, so that light of particular wavelengths interferes constructively as it reflects repeatedly between the mirrors, producing a transmission spectrum with extremely narrow, sharply defined peaks.
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