High finesse holographic fabry-perot etalon and method of fabricating

A method of fabricating a high finesse holographic Fabry-Perot etalon comprising the steps of:

• providing a spacer having two sides, each of moderate surface quality on the order of .lambda./10;
• coating each side of the spacer with a holographic material;
• providing a flat having a front surface and an interface surface, the front surface being of high optical quality on the order of 80 /100 and the interface surface being of moderate optical quality on the order of .lambda./10;
• providing a mirror having high optical quality on the order of .lambda./100;
• joining the flat, spacer, and mirror such that the spacer is sandwiched between the interface surface of the flat and the mirror, with an index matching medium between the spacer and mirror and between the spacer and interface surface;
• recording the holographic material using a one step holographic recording process;
• and,
• removing the mirror.

A method of fabricating a tunable high finesse holographic Fabry-Perot etalon comprising the steps of:

• providing a first flat having a front surface and an interface surface, the front surface having high optical quality on the order of .lambda./100 and the interface surface having moderate optical quality on the order of .lambda./10;
• providing a second flat having a back surface and an interface surface both surfaces having moderate optical quality on the order of .lambda./10;
• coating the interface surfaces of the first and second flats;
• providing a mirror having high optical quality on the order of .lambda./100;
• providing a spacer having moderate optical quality surfaces on the order of .lambda./10, the spacer comprising electrooptic means;
• joining together the first flat, second flat, spacer, and mirror such that the spacer is sandwiched between the interface surfaces of the first and second flats, with an index matching medium between the spacer and each flat, and such that the back surface of the second flat is joined with the mirror with an index matching layer between the mirror and the second flat;
• recording the coatings on the first and second flats using a single step holographic recording process;
• and,
• removing the mirror.

A method of fabricating a high finesse holographic Fabry-Perot etalon having slanted fringes comprising the steps of:

• providing a flat having a front surface and an interface surface, the front surface having high optical quality on the order of .lambda./100 and the interface surface having moderate optical quality on the order of .lambda./10;
• providing a spacer having two sides, each of moderate optical quality on the order of .lambda./10;
• coating each side of the spacer with a holographic material to form a coated spacer;
• providing a curved mirror having high optical quality on the order of .lambda./100;
• joining together the flat, coated spacer, and curved mirror such that the spacer is sandwiched between the interface surface of the flat and the mirror, with an index matching medium between the spacer and the flat, and between the spacer and the mirror;
• recording the holographic material using a single step holographic recording process.

A method of fabricating a curved high finesse holographic Fabry-Perot etalon comprising the steps of:

• providing a curved spacer having two sides, each of moderate surface quality on the order of .lambda./10;
• coating each side of the spacer with a holographic material to form a coated spacer;
• providing a flat having a front surface and an interface surface, the front surface being of high optical quality on the order of .lambda./100 and the interface surface being of moderate optical quality on the order of .lambda./10;
• providing a curved mirror having high optical quality on the order of .lambda./100;
• joining the flat, coated spacer, and mirror such that the coated spacer is sandwiched between the interface surface of the flat and the mirror, with an index matching medium between the coated spacer and mirror and between the coated spacer and interface surface;
• recording the holographic material using a one step holographic recording process;
• and,
• removing the mirror.

A spatial light modulator comprising:

• a plurality of tunable Fabry-Perot etalons arranged in an array;
• each of the etalons comprising a first flat having coated thereon a first holographic material;
• a metal electrode mounted on the holographic material;
• an electrooptic material mounted on the metal electrode;
• a second metal electrode mounted on the electrooptic material;
• a second flat one side of which is coated with a second holographic material and the second holographic material mounted to the second metal electrode;
• and
• multi-pixel voltage driving means for driving each tunable Fabry-Perot etalon independently of the other etalons.