Polarization independent birefringent Fabry–Perot etalon having polarization conversion mirrors

• Published in: Optics communications Vol. 282; no. 15; pp. 3052 - 3054
• Main Author: Abdulhalim, I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01-08-2009; Elsevier
• Subjects: Exact sciences and technology; Filters, zone plates, and polarizers; Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications); Optical elements, devices, and systems; Optics; Physics; Optical filters; Optical polarization; Fabry Perot etalon; Tunable filter; Mirrors; Polarization conversion; Liquid crystals
• ISSN: 0030-4018; 1873-0310
• DOI: 10.1016/j.optcom.2009.04.044

Polarization independent operation of birefringent Fabry–Perot etalon is proposed using polarization conversion mirrors (PCMs) as the cavity mirrors. PCMs, such as Faraday mirrors, rotate the polarization plane by 90° upon reflection thus allowing the same phase accumulation for the two eigenwaves after a roundtrip inside the cavity. Based on that when the cavity is filled with an electrooptic material such as a liquid crystal, polarization independent tunable filtering is obtained.