Pulse stretching and spectroscopy of subnanosecond optical pulses using a Fabry-Perot interferometer

A Fabry-Perot interferometer has been used to produce optical pulses of variable width from a short gaussian input pulse. Pulse stretching of two to five or more times the original pulse width is possible provided a longer tail on the output pulse is acceptable. Calculations and measurements of pulse shape and interferometer finesse are presented, along with a discussion of short-pulse spectroscopy using a Fabry-Perot interferometer