Factors Affecting the Performance of Commercial Interference Filters

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Abstract
Measurements of the transmission characteristics of commercial narrow-band interference filters made by different manufacturers are described. The effect of angle of incidence on center wavelength, bandwidth, and maximum transmittance are shown to be important, and measurements on typical filters are compared with theory. Nonuniformity of transmission over the filter surface is shown to have a significant effect on the spectral quality and mean wavelength of the transmitted radiation. Variation of filter temperature from −60°C to +60°C resulted mainly in a wavelength shift in the transmission band of +0.1 Å/°C to 0.3 Å/°C with little change in form. The experimental results provide a basis for specification of the characteristics that are important in practical applications, and relatively simple mathematical expressions are shown to be useful in predicting some of the observed variations.