REFLECTED FRINGES IN A FABRY-PEROT-INTERFEROMETER WITH ABSORBING COATINGS

The Fabry-Perot interferometer (FP) is modeled as a transparent medium between two absorbing coatings with finite thickness, typically two m etallic films. The absorption in the first coating causes the reflecta nce of the FP to differ from an Airy function. The maxima and minima o f the reflected fringes are displaced from those of the transmitted fr inges, and the reflected maxima and minima are asymmetrical. We derive expressions that quantitatively explain previous experimental results .