Contained resonant cavity and systems incorporating same

Abstract

A contained resonant cavity. The contained resonant cavity includes a first surface and a second surface that are partially transmissive and partially reflective, One or more reflective sidewall, are positioned between the first surface and the second surface. In a specific embodiment, the first surface and the second surface are substantially parallel and represent input and output surfaces, respectively, of the contained resonant cavity. The one or more sidewalls are approximately perpendicular to the first surface and the second surface and include a first sidewall having a first substantially reflective planar surface that faces a second substantially reflective planar surface of the second sidewall. A third sidewall and a fourth sidewall have fourth and fifth substantially reflective Lacing sidewalls, respectively. In an illustrative embodiment, the one or more sidewalls include plural reflective sidewall, arranged perpendicularly between the first surface and the second surface to form an array of contained resonant cavities therebetween. The ray of contained resonant cavities is readily employed in various applications including unique tunable optical filter rays, lens-less imaging systems, and multispectral imaging systems.