A Versatile Multi-Mode Fabry-Perot Instrument

Abstract

Fabry-Perot instruments have been extensively used for many years for the study of spatially extended emission nebulae because they offer a potential luminosity resolution product (L × Rpot) which exceeds by a high factor tha attainable by aerating spectrometer. Meaburn (1970) shows that this product is given by the relation where P is the number of resolution elements each containing a maximum solid angle, Ω observed simultaneously, ti is the refractive index of the medium between the plates, A is the acceptance area of the device, εo is the transmission coefficient of the associated optics and εF the transmission coefficient of the Fabry-Perot (which if coated with dielectric multilayers can be very high).