1

Optical Resonators
Michael Kossin

AbstractAn exposition on the physics of optical resonators.

We use wave equations to investigate the mathematics behind
standing waves, examine the properties of Gaussian waves,
discuss the constraints placed on the geometry of optical cavities
due to the nature of Gaussian wave propagation, and we see how
the rate of energy lost from optical cavities can be determined
and expressed mathematically. This document shall serve as a
journal of its authors understanding of the physics of optical
cavities and the Francium Parity Non-Conservation experiment
in which they are used. It is a work in progress that will be
expanded upon during the next three years.

I. I NTRODUCTION
PTICAL resonators are those which rely on the wavelike properties of radiation to trap it between two reflective surfaces for the purpose of creating high-amplitude
waves that have tightly-controlled wavelengths and frequencies. While they are named for their ability to create standing
waves of visible light, the same concepts apply to their use
with radiation at microwave frequencies. An optical resonator
is similar to general resonance cavities in that it uses an
enclosure made of reflecting material to constrain radiation
to certain frequencies and create standing waves. Unlike most
resonance cavities, however, optical resonators are only closed
off on two ends and with spherical mirrors, and are used to
resonante radiation that propagates with a Gaussian nature.
This setup is effective because Gaussian waves focus most
of their energy along a line parallel to their direction of
propagation, and so very little energy escapes in directions
not parallel to the direction of travel.

II. R EFLECTION
Understanding the intricacies of the reflection and transmission of radiation is a prerequisite to a discussion of optical
resonators. Plane waves are those in which electromagnetic
fields are symmetrical across planes that move through space
in one direction and which extend infinitely in all directions
normal to the direction of travel.
We begin with the simple case in which these plane waves
interact with a surface that is normal to the waves directions
of travel. If the surface is a conductor, then these waves will
produce an electric charge across the surface. Just as a Faraday
cage becomes charged and cancels out any electric field that
interacts with it such that no electric field is present inside
the cage, the charge produced on a conducting surface when
it is struck by an electromagnetic wave acts to cancel out
the instantaneous values of the electric and magnetic fields
that characterize the wave such that there can be no waves
inside of a perfect conductor [?]. If a wave is incident upon
an unrealistic perfect conductor- one in which absolutely no
energy is required to transmit charges across the conductor-

then the wave will be destroyed by the conductor, but a new

wave will be emitted by the acceleration of charges on the
conductor that has the same properties as the original wave
except for the fact that it travels in the opposite direction.
When a plane wave propagating in the z direction with an
electric field component given by
e I (z, t) = E0I ei(k1 zt) x
E

(1)

and a magnetic field component given by

e I (z, t) = 1 B0I ei(k1 zt) y
,
(2)
B
v1
with k1 being the wavenumber, E0I being the amplitude of
the electric field oscillation, B0I being the amplitude of the
magnetic field oscillation, and being the angular frequency
of the field oscillations, is incident upon a perfect conductor,
then a reflected wave is produced with an electric field of
e R (z, t) = E0I ei(k1 zt) x
E

(3)

and a magnetic field of

e R (z, t) = 1 E0I ei(k1 zt) y
B
.
(4)
v1
If the wave is incident on a surface that has some resistance,
then some energy is taken from the reflected wave, and a
second wave is produced that travels through the conducting
medium in the same direction as the original wave:
e T (z, t) = E0I ei(k1 zt) x
E
,

(5)

e T (z, t) = 1 E0I ei(k1 zt) y

B
.
(6)
v1
The important thing to notice is that no magnetic or electric
field can exist at the conductor: the solutions of the wave equations must evaluate to zero at the location of the conductor.
Therefore, a boundary condition is created: the geometry of
the wave must be such that the electric and magnetic field are
both zero at a perfect conductor, or very close to zero at an
imperfect one [1].
III. S TANDING WAVES
The real parts of two waves that have an equal amplitude,
wavelength, and propagation speed, but which are travelling
in opposite directions, have amplitudes that can be expressed
with the equations
E1 = E0 sin(kx t)

(7)

E2 = E0 sin(kx + t),

(8)

and
where the opposite signs in front of t show that the propagation directions are opposite. The wave that results from these

direction, and the allowed frequencies must all be multiples

of the free spectral range (FSR), or v, a quantity which is
important in the following sections and which will be derived
here. In order for a wave to resonate within a cavity of a
certain length, its frequency must be an integer multiple of
the free spectral range associated with that cavity.
We start with the fact stated in the previous paragraph:
 

(13)
L =n
2
5/v

where L is the distance between reflective surfaces in one

direction, and is the wavelength. If is the difference
between one wavelength allowable by a cavity with a given
length and the next longest wavelength allowable by that same
cavity, then, clearly,

4/v
3/v time
-/2

position

2/v
/2

1/v

= (n + 1)
.
2
2

(14)

Since
Fig. 1. Graph of a 2-dimensional standing wave where the z-axis is the
magnitude of the electric field, the y-axis is time, and the x-axis is position.
The straight black level lines extending through time among the level curves
drawn underneath the plot illustrate a property of standing waves: there are
positions at which the magnitude of the oscillation is always zero throughout
time.

waves sharing the same position is represented with the sum

of equations 7 and 8:
E = E0 sin(kx wt) + E0 sin(kx + t).
We use the sum-to-product identity





+
sin + sin = 2 cos
sin
2
2

d c
c
d
=
= 2
dv
dv v
v

(16)

and therefore
d =
It follows that

cdv
cdv
dv
=
= .
2
v
vv
v
d
dv
= .

(10)

(17)

(18)

and that
(11)

Equation 11 describes a standing wave: one in which the

amplitude at each position is constant. Every spatial component of this wave will oscillate in time, as described by the
cos(t) part of the equation, with an amplitude depending on
its position x, as described by the sin(kx) part of the equation.
A plot of equation 11 is shown in figure 1. In electromagnetic
waves, oscillations with respect to time occur too quickly for
individual oscillations to be detected by most equipment. We
can absorb the cos(t) part of equation 11, along with the
constant amplitude multiplier 2E0 into a variable E0 , obtaining
a more simple equation that is still useful in describing the
amplitude of a standing wave with respect to position:
E = E0 sin(kx).

(15)

where c is the speed of light (assuming there exists a vacuum

within the cavity), then

(9)

to simplify equation 9:
E = E0 cos(t) sin(kx).

v = c

(12)

IV. A LLOWED FREQUENCIES

Any cavity designed to contain resonant waves must be
designed such that the desired wavelengths result in the
amplitude of the electric field being zero at the reflective
boundaries of the enclosure. The length of the resonator cavity
must be an integer multiple of half the wavelength in each

v
=
.

v
Now, expanding the right side of equation 14 yields
n

n n

=
+

.
2
2
2
2
2

(19)

(20)

Simplifying, and neglecting the

2 term which is very small
produces
n = n.
(21)
We rearrange to get
1

=
,
n

and because of equation 19 we can say that

1
v
=
.
n
v
Using equation 13 we find that

(22)

(23)

.
(24)
2L
Finally, we isolate v to obtain the expression for the free
spectral range:
c
v
v =
=
.
(25)
2L
2L

wz

w0

minor alterations of the shape of the wave add. Clearly,

understanding the shape of the wavefronts is important: in this
type of resonator, the distance between reflecting surfaces is
constrained not just by the need to match an integer multiple
of the wavelength of the wave being trapped, but by the need
to match its curvature, made more complicated by the fact that
the curvature of a Gaussian wave is a function of its travelling
distance.
To understand the constraints involved in the design of a
quasi-optical resonator, we start with the wave equation for a
Gaussian beam:


Fig. 2. Illustration of an optical cavity. The curves between the spherical

mirrors represent wavefronts, with the intensity of the wavefronts represented
by the darkness of the curves.

V. O PTICAL CAVITIES
Plane waves have their energies uniformly spread out normal to the direction of travel to infinite extents. However,
there can exist waves that have an intensity that drops off
as a Gaussian function of distance from a certain point in
directions normal to that of the waves propagation. These
Gaussian waves can take a spherical shape- that is, while
their intensities are described by a Gaussian function, surfaces
representing points of equal phase may be spherical in shape.
To trap these waves, a resonator may merely be closed off
on two ends by spherical mirrors, since the energy carried
by waves far away from a certain point (the wave centers) is
very small. An optical cavity, sometimes called Fabry-Perot
cavity, is a resonator which is only closed off on two sides,
and bounces radiation between two concave spherical surfaces.
In order for resonance to occur in such a cavity, several
constraints must be satisfied: as with all resonators, waves
travelling in the two directions must be in phase with each
other at all points along their direction of travel, and the
wavelengths must be such that the amplitude of the electric
field is zero at the reflecting surfaces, so any frequency must
be an integer multiple of the resonators free spectral range.
However, it will be shown that if reflectors are made of realworld materials- those that are not perfect conductors with
perfect reflectivity- then there is a distribution of frequencies
centered around each resonance peak.
Additionally, since these resonators work with spherical
waves, the curvature of the reflectors must be equal to the curvature of the wavefronts. If a resonator is made using spherical
mirrors with a curvature equal to that of the wavefronts at the
location where they interact with the mirror, then the shape of
the wave will be preserved as it is reflected. If, however, the
curvature of the mirror is not the same as the curvature of the
wavefronts, different parts of the wavefront will be reflected
from the mirror at different times. For example, if the curvature
of a spherical wave is greater than that of the mirror, then the
portions of the wave closer to the center of the mirror will be
reflected first, and shapes of the wavefronts will be flattened
(or will take on a curvature opposite that of the original).
If the waves are reflected many times within a resonator,

w0
e
E (r, z) = E0
w (z)

r 2
w(z)2


r2
ikzik 2R(z)
+i(z)

(26)

where r is the distance from the most intense point of the

wave in the transverse direction, z is the position relative
to the waves narrowest point in the direction of travel, k
is the wavenumber, or 2/, E0 is the maximum amplitude
of the electric field, and R(z) is the radius of curvature of
the wavefronts. w0 is the width of the wave at its narrowest
point. The wave width can be defined in many ways, since
the intensity gradually decreases from a maximum point at the
center of the wave and (mathematically) never reaches zero. A
common definition for the beam width is the distance between
points at which the beam is half of its maximum value (the
full-width at half maximum, or FWHM). wz is the beam width
at any point along the direction of travel, and is given by
s
w(z) = w0


1+

z
zR

2
(27)

where
zR =

w02

(28)

is the Rayleigh length, which describes the distance along the

direction of travel between the point at which the width of
the beam is w0 and the point at which the width is the area is
double the area at the w0 point (that is, the point at which wz =

2w0 ). At any point within the cavity, the average intensity

of the wave is a function of axial (z) and radial (r) distances
from the point of highest intensity, which is the center of the
wave at its narrowest point.
The intensity is greatest when measured at the axial point
where the wave is the narrowest and at the center of the wave,
and is given by
 2  2 
2r
w0
I(r, z) = I0
e wz
(29)
wz
where I0 is the maximum intensity. In Gaussian beams, there
is a longitudinal phase delay in addition to that given by the
eikz term: (z). It is called the Guoy phase, and is given by
(z) = arctan

z
.
zr

(30)

The curvature of the wavefronts changes as they propagate.

down by an amount proportional to the total amplitude of

the contained wave at that time. The high propagation speed
of radiation means that the frequency of oscillation is very
high for electromagnetic waves, and so, while in reality the
amplitude of the contained waves decreases in steps every
time a wave is reflected off the cavity walls, the decrease
can usually only be observed as being smooth in time. We
can therefore, without much loss of precision, say that the
loss in amplitude with respect to time is given by the smooth
differential equation

.5/zR

curvature

.25/zR
0

dE0,t
= T E0,t ,
(33)
dt
where T is a constant which is related to T , the portion of
energy transmitted each time a wave is reflected off of the
mirror. In the absence of absorption losses, T is inversely
proportional to the reflectivity R of the mirror, which is the
proportion of energy reflected by the mirror. The differential
equation can be solved to yield an equation for the amplitude
of the waves remaining inside the cavity at any time:

-.25/zR
-.5/zR
-3zR -2zR -zR

zR

2zR 3zR

distance from z = 0
Fig. 3. Plot of curvature as a function of axial position within the resonator.
The center of the resonator, where the intensity is greatest, is at point z = 0,
and this is where curvature is equal to zero. The curvature takes a maximum
value of 0.5/zR at distance equal to the Rayleigh length away from z=0. In
figure2, less than two Rayleigh lengths are contained within the cavity, so the
curvature does not reach its maximum position within it. This is a common
feature of real-world optical cavities.

The curvature is given by the equation

 
 z 2 1
R
(z) = z 1 +
,
z

(31)

while the radius of curvature, the radius of a circle that would

match the curvature given by equation 31, is

 z 2 
R
R(z) = z 1 +
,
(32)
z
where, again, zR is the Rayleigh length. The change in our
waves curvatures as they propagate through the optical cavity
is illustrated in figure 3. We see that the wavefronts have a
curvature of 0, that is, they are perfectly flat, where z = z0 , and
that they reach maximum curvatures at finite distances from z0
on either side. Optical resonators are usually constructed such
that the waves are reflected before reaching this maximum
curvature. To build a resonator that holds microwaves at
a certain frequency, we must have mirrors separated by a
distance that is a multiple of the free spectral range calculated
from equation 25, and which have a curvature given by
equation 31 [?].
VI. A MPLITUDE DECAY AND ENERGY LOSS
For every round trip a wave takes between mirrors, energy
is lost due to imperfect reflection. Some energy is lost to
the mirror itself, being absorbed as part of thermodynamic
processes. Most of the lost energy leaving the cavity, however,
escapes through transmission through the mirror, and goes
into making the wave described in equation 5. For every
oscillation that is reflected off of a realistic mirror in an optical
cavity, the amplitude of the wave contained in the cavity goes

dE0,t
= T E0,t
dt
1
dE0,t = T dt
E0,t

(34)

ln(E0,t + E0 ) = T dt

(35)

E = E0 eT t ,

(36)

where the integration constant E0 can be determined from

the initial amplitude. We multiply this result by the complete,
complex standing wave equation, absorbing E0 into E0 to
obtain an equation for a standing wave that is decaying due
to energy being transmitted through the mirrors:
E = E0 eT t eit .

(37)

Something interesting happens when a decaying wave is

oscillating in an optical cavity. Recall that the free spectral
range allows specific, isolated values for frequencies contained
within a cavity. A wave with a frequency that deviates from
one of these frequencies, even by a minuscule amount, cannot
exist within a cavity of length L . Figure 4 illustrates this
concept. It shows a Fourier transform of the wave equation
of a standing wave. We see spikes with infinitesimal width
representing the frequencies allowed in a lossless cavity made
from perfectly reflective mirrors. The Fourier transform of the
equation for a decaying wave, however, does not involve a
Kronecker delta function. Figure 5 shows a Fourier transform
of equation 37. Intensities still peak at the same frequencies as
the allowed frequencies in figure 4, but waves with frequencies
near the peak frequencies will also be able to oscillate within
the cavity, albeit at a diminished intensity.
The Q factor of a resonance system tells us how quickly
the system loses energy relative to its oscillation frequency. In
general, the Q factor of any oscillator is the amount of energy
lost by the oscillator, as a fraction of its total energy, as the
oscillator proceeds in phase by one radian:
Q=

2 (stored energy)
energy loss per cycle

(38)

VII. C ONCLUSION

Imax

2v

3v

Fig. 4. A plot of the Fourier series of an equation for a standing wave held
in an ideal optical cavity made of mirrors that completely reflect the energy
bounced onto them and which does not decay in time.

Optical resonators allow the production of standing electromagnetic waves that have specific allowed frequencies. The
nature of the Gaussian waves held in the resonators cavities
means that the space between the mirrors is constrained by
the frequencies desired, but this constraint is relaxed if the
mirrors are not perfectly reflective. Also the fact that the
curvature of Gaussian waves changes as they propagate means
that the required curvature of the resonators mirrors depends
on the distance between them. Two terms, finesse and Q factor,
describe how quickly waves within an optical resonator decay,
and higher values of these terms means that the constraints on
the frequencies of waves within the resonator are relaxed.
This document consists of what will soon be just a portion
of an exposition on the Francium Parity Non-Conservation
experiment, a project on which the University of Marylands
Joint Quantum Institute is a major collaborator and which
has the goal of measuring the magnitude of the weak force,
a fundamental feature of the natural world. A quasi-optical
resonator, which works with microwaves rather than optical
waves but which works on the same concepts, is a large part
of this experiment,
R EFERENCES
[1] D. J. Gsaaasdriffiths, Introduction to Electrodynamics, 3rd ed. PrenticeHall, Inc., 1999.

Imax

2v

3v

Fig. 5. A plot of the Fourier series of an equation for a standing wave which
is decaying in time.

The full width at half maximum of the peaks in figure 5

increase as the amplitude decay rate, and the amount of energy
lost per reflection, increases. The Q factor of an optical cavity
is inversely proportional to this width :

Q=
(39)

The decay rate of waves in an optical cavity can also be

described by a value called finesse. Finesse relates the free
spectral range of an optical cavity made of imperfect mirrors
to the spread of possible frequencies:
FSR
free spectral range
F =
=
(40)

width of the resonance

[?].