Experimental investigation of thermally scanned fabry-perot interferometry.

A thermally scanned Fabry-Perot interferometer in the flat-flat resonator configuration has been constructed. It is extremely easy to use, and, in addition, provides large values of finesse (>60), high transmission, and large usable apertures. Experimental data analyzing the characteristics of the device are presented. Use of the interferometer for the spectral analysis of several physical processes involving very high optical resolution is demonstrated.