arXiv:physics/0606231 · Applied Physics Letters
Stable fiber-based Fabry-Pérot cavity
T. Steinmetz, Yves Colombe, D. Hunger, Theodor W. Hänsch, A. Balocchi, R. J. Warburton, Jakob Reichel
Abstract
The development of a fiber-based, tunable optical cavity with open access is reported. The cavity is of the Fabry-Pérot type and is formed with miniature spherical mirrors positioned on the end of single- or multimode optical fibers by a transfer technique, which involves lifting a high-quality mirror from a smooth convex substrate, either a ball lens or microlens. The cavities typically have a finesse of ∼1000 and a mode volume of 600μm3. The detection of small ensembles of cold Rb atoms guided through such a cavity on an atom chip is demonstrated.