Optical pulse propagation in a Fabry-Perot etalon: analytical discussion

The phase modulation and dispersion property of a Fabry-Perot etalon are in vestigated analytically. It is demonstrated that within the resonant disper sion region in the etalon transmission spectrum, effective time delay of li ght pulse propagation can be achieved, and the maximum delay period can be simply related to the mirror reflectivity and optical length of the etalon. With a much simplified model, the influences of etalon parameters on the t ransmitted Gaussian pulse are evaluated, and simple relations regarding pul se distortion and energy loss are obtained to illustrate the temporal prope rties of the etalon. (C) 2001 Optical Society of America.