Yakov Sidorin’s research while affiliated with University of Arizona and other places

We discuss the design rationale and technological aspects of successfully commercially implemented development of high-precision extremely narrowband filters for solar and atmospheric applications and their use with telescopic instrumentation. The advantage of etalon-based filter technologies over other conventional approaches-such as interference filters, or birefringence filters-is also argued. Detailed consideration is given to the susceptibility of etalon-based filters to instrumental drawbacks of conventionally implemented etalons, to their high optical density (more than 5) within the rejected spectral regions as required by applications, and to practical aspects of threshold levels of light exposure during the use of these high-precision optical filters.

We discuss the design, fabrication and performance of a temperature-tuned solid etalon filter for a 532 nm lidar receiver. This is the first demonstration of a bulk, ZnS (a.k.a. Cleartran) etalon filter. Cleartran provides several advantages including: full FSR tuning with a small temperature range; high thermal conductivity; high numerical aperture; and high reliability (no moving parts or piezoelectrics involved). The filter system, with a FWHM ~28 pm, was tuned at a ratee of ~15 pm/°C across the FSR of 341 pm, and provided a wavelength stability of +/- 0.8 pm.

IN 2005 a lidar instrument will be launched aboard the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) satellite for measuring the three dimensional distribution of atmospheric clouds and aerosols. A key part of the lidar instrument is a 532 nm tunable etalon, which allows daytime operation. The design rationale and measured optical performance of the etalon and its mounting sytem during assembly and integration are presented.

ABSTRACT Using H-alpha etalon-based solar filter as an example, we address the issues of practical realization of etalon-based filters used for solar astronomy,and other related applications. The design rationale as well as the choice among,two conventional formats of etalons is described, depending on the requirements on the devised solar filter. Keywords: