Amplitude response of a Fabry-Perot interferometer

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the amplitude response of a Fabry-Perot interferometer using a phase-space approach, revealing geometric representations of reflected and transmitted amplitudes as a circle and a hippopede, respectively.

Contribution

It introduces a phase-space method to describe the complex amplitudes in a Fabry-Perot interferometer, linking system performance to geometric curve parameters.

Findings

Reflected amplitude traces a circle in phase space.

Transmitted amplitude forms a hippopede curve.

System performance correlates with geometric parameters of these curves.

Abstract

The complex reflected and transmitted amplitudes from a Fabry-Perot interferometer are analyzed using a phase-space approach, in which the real and imaginary parts of those amplitudes are taken as basic variables. As functions of the optical path length of the cavity, the reflected amplitude describes a circle, whereas the transmitted is given by a hippopede. The system performance can be directly related to the geometrical parameters of these curves.