High-performance Fabry-Perot etalon mount for spaceflight

The construction and optical performance of Fabry-Perot etalons for:spacefl ight are considered. Optical mounts with sufficient mechanical firmness to handle intense vibration loads cause significant distortion of etalon plate s, degrading the etalon resolving power and peak transmittance. A mount is described that combines mechanical robustness with very low plate distortio n. An etalon mounted in this manner survived spaceflight-level vibration te sting, in two axes, without damage or degradation. The defect finesse of th is etalon, measured after the vibration tests, was 46, at a wavelength of 5 32 nm, about three times the values achieved with previous Fabry-Perot etal ons for spaceflight. (C) 2000 Society of Photo-Optical instrumentation Engi neers. [S0091-3286(00)03201-3].