How do I calculate a loss rate from the reflectivity?

Question

If I have a laser cavity that is contained between two mirrors and I know the reflectivity, R1 and R2, of each mirror, is there an easy way to calculate the photon loss rate through each of the mirrors per second?

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited Dec 11 '18 at 18:52

1

Yes, suppose the laser cavity is of length $L$. The round trip time of photon is $\frac{2 L }{c}$. In each round trip, the fractional loss is $1-R_1R_2$.

So loss rate = $\frac{c(1 - R_1R_2)}{2 L}$. This has units of $s^{-1}$.

edited Dec 11 '18 at 18:52

AccidentalFourierTransform

56,647

answered Dec 11 '18 at 17:55

rims

187

How do I calculate a loss rate from the reflectivity?

1 Answers1