Anticaustics in a Fabry–Perot interferometer

Abstract

We address the response of a Fabry–Perot interferometer to a monochromatic point source. We calculate the anticaustics (that is, the virtual wavefronts of null path difference) resulting from the successive internal reflections occurring in the system. They turn out to be a family of ellipsoids (or hyperboloids) of revolution, which allows us to reinterpret the operation of the Fabry–Perot interferometer from a geometrical point of view that facilitates comparison with other apparently disparate arrangements, such as Young’s double slit.