A Lyot filter, named for its inventor Bernard Lyot, is a type of optical filter that uses

birefringence Birefringence is the optical property of a material having a refractive index that depends on the polarization and propagation direction of light. These optically anisotropic materials are said to be birefringent (or birefractive). The birefring ...

to produce a narrow passband of transmitted wavelengths. Lyot filters are often used in astronomy, particularly for

solar Solar may refer to: Astronomy * Of or relating to the Sun ** Solar telescope, a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun ** A device that utilizes solar energy (e.g. "solar panels") ** Solar calendar, a calendar whose dates indicate t ...

astronomy. A Lyot filter is made from one or more birefringent plates (usually quartz), with (in multi-plate filters) each plate being half the thickness of the previous one. Because the plates are birefringent, the ''ordinary'' and ''extraordinary'' polarization components of a light beam experience a different refractive index and thus have a different

phase velocity The phase velocity of a wave is the rate at which the wave propagates in any medium. This is the velocity at which the phase of any one frequency component of the wave travels. For such a component, any given phase of the wave (for example, ...

. Therefore, the polarization state of light with an arbitrary wavelength will in general be modified after a passage through the filter plate, and this causes a loss of optical power in a subsequent

polarizer A polarizer or polariser is an optical filter that lets light waves of a specific polarization pass through while blocking light waves of other polarizations. It can filter a beam of light of undefined or mixed polarization into a beam of well ...

. For certain wavelengths, however, the

optical path length In optics, optical path length (OPL, denoted ''Λ'' in equations), also known as optical length or optical distance, is the product of the geometric length of the optical path followed by light and the refractive index of homogeneous medium through ...

difference is an integer multiple of the wavelength, so that the losses are very small. By rotating the plates, one can shift the wavelengths of the transmission peaks. Each stage of a Lyot filter is 1/2 the size of the preceding stage. The largest stage sets the bandwidth and the smallest stage sets the Free Spectral Range. If you use two of the second largest crystals it will increase the contrast of the desired line. If you split the crystals in half and add a 1/2 waveplates in the middle you can increase the field of view of the filter. The separation and narrowness of the transmission peaks depends on the number, thicknesses, and orientation of the plates. If electrically tunable birefringent elements are inserted (liquid crystal or electrooptic), then we obtain an "Electrically Tunable Lyot Filter". Liquid crystal tunable filters allow analogue tuning of the transmitted wavelength by carefully adjusting the voltage over the liquid crystal cells. Often these filters are based on the original Lyot design, but many other designs exist in order to achieve either narrow or broad band transmission, polarization selectivity, etc. Single and multi-plate Lyot filters are often used inside the

optical cavity An optical cavity, resonating cavity or optical resonator is an arrangement of mirrors or other optical elements that forms a cavity resonator for light waves. Optical cavities are a major component of lasers, surrounding the gain medium and provi ...

of lasers to allow tuning of the laser. In this case, Brewster losses from the plate and other intracavity elements are usually sufficient to produce the polarizing effect and no additional polarizers are required. Although their mechanisms are different, modelocking lasers and Lyot-filter lasers both produce a comb of multiple wavelengths which can be placed on the ITU channel grid for Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) or used to give each suburban home its own return-signal laser wavelength in a passive optical network (PON) used to provide FTTH (Fiber To The Home).

References

Optical filters {{Optics-stub

See also

References