Deriving wavelength spectra from fringe images from a fixed-gap single-etalon Fabry-Perot spectrometer

A new method is described for inferring wavelength spectra from two-dimensional images of Fabry-Perot interference fringes. This new method addresses the, practical difficulties that have been previously encountered in determining the fringe image's center, magnification, and distortions accurately enough to fully exploit the spectral resolution provided by the etalon. The method proceeds in two steps, First, the instrument's mapping of image position to interference order is characterized by use of images of a scene illuminated uniformly by a highly monochromatic laser. Then this information is applied to resample two-dimensional images of unknown radiation sources down to sets of one or more one-dimensional wavelength spectra. Discrete cross-correlation techniques are used at both stages of analysis. (C) 2002 Optical Society of America.