White-light spectral interferometric technique to measure the wavelength dependence of the spectral bandpass of a fibre-optic spectrometer

A spectral-domain white-light interferometric technique with channelled spectrum detection is used to measure the wavelength dependence of the spectral bandpass of a fibre-optic spectrometer. In an experimental setup comprising a halogen lamp, a non-dispersive Michelson interferometer and the spectrometer to be measured, spectral interferograms are recorded for different optical path differences (OPDs) between interfering beams. By processing the recorded spectral interferograms using discrete filtering and a fringe amplitude demodulation method, spectral fringe visibilities, first, as a function of the wavelength for given OPDs, and second, as a function of the OPD at given wavelengths, are obtained. It is confirmed, in accordance with theory, that the latter spectral fringe visibility functions are Gaussian functions with maxima and widths dependent on the wavelength. From the widths of the Gaussian spectral fringe visibility functions the wavelength dependence of the spectrometer bandpass is determined over a wide spectral range.