Construction of spatial-coherence spectral filters using a Fourier-achromat system

Theoretical investigations made not long ago regarding the construction of spatial-coherence spectral filters (SCSFs) are rendered into experiments by designing and fabricating a Fourier-achromat experimental setup analyzed in the theoretical studies. It is shown that the phenomenon of spectral shift due to spatial coherence also known as the Wolf effect can be exploited to make special types of low-pass and band-pass spectral filters with special spectral characteristics that are not shown by the conventional filters. A Fourier-achromat is employed to construct the SCSFs. The experimental results within the experimental limitations and measurement uncertainty agree well with the theory. These filters might find applications in (i) astronomy (in the search of particular spectral lines) (ii) developing spectrum-selective optical interconnects or (iii) in cryptography.