INVESTIGATION OF RESONANCE BANDWIDTHS AND CRITICAL ABSORPTION FOR PASSIVE-ACTIVE COUPLED-CAVITY FABRY-PEROT ABSORPTION RESONATORS

The optical characteristics of an absorption-tunable Fabry-Perot etalo n coupled with a passive non-tunable etalon are analyzed. The effects of additional optical feedback due to coupling from the passive cavity on the resonance optical bandwidth determined by the device structure and critical absorption of the absorption-tunable cavity required for null resonance mode reflectivities are investigated. For this type of resonator, there is a tradeoff between the optical bandwidths and cri tical absorption within the active cavities required for null resonanc e reflectivities. It is shown that wider (narrower) bandwidths can be exchanged with higher (lower) critical absorption.