Tunable Narrow Band Optical Filters for Electro-Optic Diagnosis

Physical Optics Corp (POC) proposes a novel tunable vernier holographic Fabry-Perot filter (TVH FPF) based on a double cavity vernier Fabry-Perot etalon using holographic coherently coupled cavity mirrors. This Fabry-Perot etalon can be used to diagnose the deviation of optical wavelength and/or beam angle, thus predicting or identifying failures in electro-optic and photonic systems. The successful design can be achieved by using two of POC's existing technologies: high-efficiency volume holography and a coherently coupled, tunable, holographic Fabry-Perot filter. The FPF will be combined with a tunable double-cavity vernier configuration using a relatively ordinary low-finesse FP cavity which is independently tunable over a small portion (1/20) of the spectral range covered. As a result, a high-resolution vernier effect over the fully covered spectral range is obtained. The proposed TVH FPF will, at low cost, exhibit narrow-band (1A or less) tunability to any arbitrary wavelength within a spectral range of at least 100 nm in the visible (including the blue-green) or the IR. In addition, because of the nature of the coherently coupled recording of the holographic mirrors, large-aperture TVH FPFs can be fabricated.