Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 30, 2026

Design and Fabrication of an Optical Fiber Made of Water
Published on: November 8, 2018
Fabry-Perot resonance of water waves
Louis-Alexandre Couston1, Qiuchen Guo1, Maysamreza Chamanzar2
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
Abstract:
We show that significant water wave amplification is obtained in a water resonator consisting of two spatially separated patches of small-amplitude sinusoidal corrugations on an otherwise flat seabed. The corrugations reflect the incident waves according to the so-called Bragg reflection mechanism, and the distance between the two sets controls whether the trapped reflected waves experience constructive or destructive interference within the resonator. The resulting amplification or suppression is enhanced with increasing number of ripples and is most effective for specific resonator lengths and at the Bragg frequency, which is determined by the corrugation period. Our analysis draws on the analogous mechanism that occurs between two partially reflecting mirrors in optics, a phenomenon named after its discoverers Charles Fabry and Alfred Perot.
Related Concept Videos
Sound Waves: Resonance
Reflection of Waves
Standing Waves
Standing Waves in a Cavity
The de Broglie Wavelength
Propagation of Waves
Consider a scenario where a wave propagates from a string of low linear mass density to a string of high linear mass density. In such a case, the reflected wave is out of phase with respect to the incident wave, however the...

