Two Optical Feedback Schemes for Cavity Ring-down Technique for High Reflectivity Measurements

An optical feedback cavity ring-down (OF-CRD) technique employing a continuous wave Fabry-Perot (F-P) diode laser is investigated for high reflectivity measurement. Two optical feedback (OF) schemes (linear and V-shaped cavity schemes) for the OF-CRD technique are compared in both wavelength and time domains. Due to the OF effect caused by retro-reflection of ring-down cavity back into the laser cavity, large resonance peaks appear in CRD signals in both the schemes. However, due to the differences in the strengths and spectra of the OF, the appearance frequencies and amplitudes of the peaks in the CRD signals in both schemes differ significantly. Simple and low-cost high reflectivity measurement apparatuses are established based on these two OF-CRD schemes and high-accuracy measurements of high reflectivity are experimentally achieved.