DESIGN OF A MULTIPASS OPTICAL-CELL BASED ON THE USE OF SHIFTED CORNERCUBES AND RIGHT-ANGLE PRISMS

A design of a multipass optical cell is proposed. This design is based on the use of corner-cube retroreflectors arranged opposite to parall el axes, an incident beam that enters off the plane that contains the axes of the retroreflectors, and right-angle prisms to return to the c ell the beam that left it after several reflections. This design allow s the light beam to pass through the cell many times so that the beam paths fill the cell volume tightly and homogeneously. (C) 1998 Optical Society of America.