Abstract

We measured and modelled the ultra-narrowband transmission spectra of cesium Faraday and Voigt filters at 455 nm. When optimized to achieve the narrowest passbands, the Faraday filter exhibited transmission peaks of 0.7 GHz bandwidth with an integrated transmission of about 3 GHz. A three dimensional model for these resonant birefringent magneto-optic devices was verified experimentally using the closely related Cs resonance at 852 nm. This model predicted a wide field of view for the blue Faraday filter essentially limited by vignetting by the filter components. We devised a new ultra-narrow magneto-optic linefilter, which we call the "Voigt filter," that uses a transverse magnetic field.

© 1992 Optical Society of America