Potential applications of ring resonators for astronomicalinstrumentation

摘要

Ring resonators are a looped waveguide coupled to an input and an output waveguide. They can be usedto filter, and drop, a series of wavelengths at the resonant frequencies of the ring. Both these properties areuseful for astronomical applications. The dropped signal provides a frequency comb that can be used to provideaccurate wavelength calibration. The free spectral range of such a device is larger than that from a laser comb,removing the requirement to perform subsequent filtering. The filtered signal could be used to suppress specificwavelengths, e.g. corresponding to atmospheric emission lines. We present the expected performance of devicesdesigned for both applications and discuss their advantages and limitations.© (2012) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.