Progress in multipass tandem Fabry-Perot interferometry: I. A fully automated, easy to use, self-aligning spectrometer with increased stability and flexibility

A computer control for a Sandercock-type multipath tandem Fabry-Perot interferometer is described, which offers many advantages over conventionally used analog control: The range of stability is increased due to active control of the laser light intensity and the mirror dither amplitude. The alignment is fully automated enabling start of a measurement within a minute after start of align, including optionally finding the optimum focus on the sample. The software control enables a programmable series of measurements with control of, e.g., the position and rotation of the sample, the angle of light incidence, the sample temperature, or the strength and direction of an applied magnetic field. Built-in fitting routines allow for a precise determination of frequency positions of excitation peaks combined with increased frequency accuracy due to a correction of a residual nonlinearity of the mirror stage drive. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0034-6748(99)03202-5].