Influence of a Fabry-Perot etalon on a chirped optical pulse

Taking into consideration the fact that the output from a Fabry-Perot etalo n is formed on the basis of the interference of the multi-reflected beams o f the input pulse that enters the etalon, an analytical expression of the o utput pulse intensity has been derived for an input chirped Gaussian pulse passing through an etalon. Using the expression, the temporal width and the peak power of the output pulse is investigated. Results show that for a gi ven etalon, the chirp factor and the width of the input pulse have intense effects on the width and the peak of the output pulse. (C) 2001 Elsevier Sc ience Ltd. All rights reserved.