Introduction | Types of Planar Etalons | Fabry-Perot Etalon Theory

Introduction
TecOptics is the world’s leader in Fabry-Perot Etalon technology. We supply etalons for laser line narrowing, laser monitoring, astronomy, UV microlithography, optical communications, remote sensing, and a myriad of other industrial and research applications. Although most of our etalons are custom-designed we stock standard substrates with clear apertures of 20mm, 25mm, and 30mm diameters. Standard etalon coatings range from 157nm to 3µ.

We will be happy to help you define the optimum etalon for your application and then manufacture it to the required specifications. To review the basic properties of etalons, you can read the "What is an Etalon" section below. For more details, see - "Fabry-Perot Etalon Theory."

For specific information on the wide variety of etalons TecOptics offers, see "Types of Planar Etalons".

What is an Etalon?
A Fabry-Perot etalon (or simply, an etalon) is the simplest form of a Fabry-Perot interferometer. Its primary optical property is that if a monochromatic light ray travels back and forth between two mirrors and the back-and-forth optical distance between the mirrors equals an integral number of wavelengths (l, 2l, 3l, etc.), then the light passes through the etalon.

An etalon is one of the following:

1. Two very flat, very parallel mirrors (planar etalon). Almost all etalons are planar etalons.
2. Two identical spherical mirrors with their concave sides facing each other and with the distance between the mirrors equal to each mirror’s radius of curvature (confocal or spherical etalon). These are much less common and not covered on this site.