Continuous-wave cavity ring-down technique for accurate measurement of high reflectivity

Abstract

A continuous-wave cavity ring-down (CW-CRD) technique employing a broadband diode laser is developed for high reflectivity measurement. The theory of square-wave modulated CW-CRD is presented. The spectrum of the broadband CW diode laser covers numerous free spectral ranges (FSRs) so that sufficient laser power is coupled into the cavity. Both amplitude and phase-shift of the first harmonic of the CRD signal, measured at an appropriate frequency range, are detected by a lock-in method and fitted to obtain the ring-down time and reflectivity. The measurements are repeated with five different cavity lengths and all the fitted reflectivities are in excellent agreement, indicating a high reliability of the CW-CRD technique. The reflectivity of the cavity mirror is determined statistically to be 99.70%, with an uncertainty of 0.01%.

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