Abstract

The optical dispersion in the vicinity of the ³P₁–¹S₀ transition in mercury has been examined in high resolution by a novel method employing a variable frequency light source and a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. The enhancement of instrument sensitivity through lock-in synchronous detection, particularly for small negative dispersion measurements, was demonstrated. In some cases fringe shifts as small as one ten-thousandth of a fringe could be observed. The large Faraday rotation expected near resonance was also observed and the feasibility of using it as a narrow band modulatable filter demonstrated. A derivation of the refractive index in the vicinity of the resonance using the Kramers-Kronig relations is given, and the theory is shown to be consistent with experiment. The generalization of these techniques to laser work is briefly discussed.

© 1964 Optical Society of America

Resonant Optical Faraday Rotator

R. Rosenberg, C. B. Rubinstein, and D. R. Herriott
Appl. Opt. 3(9) 1079-1083 (1964)

Magneto-Optic Modulation of a Light Beam in Sodium Vapor*

Bernhard M. Schmidt, John M. Williams, and Dudley Williams
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 54(4) 454-459 (1964)

Analysis of Optical Resonators Involving Focusing Elements

Stuart A. Collins
Appl. Opt. 3(11) 1263-1275 (1964)

Beat Frequencies Between Modes of a Concave-Mirror Optical Resonator

John P. Goldsborough
Appl. Opt. 3(2) 267-275 (1964)

Complete characterization of a self-mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser in the vicinity of zero group-delay dispersion by frequency-resolved optical gating

John M. Dudley, Salah M. Boussen, David M. J. Cameron, and John D. Harvey
Appl. Opt. 38(15) 3308-3315 (1999)