Excitation and interrogation of whispering-gallery modes in optical microresonators using a single fused-tapered fiber tip

Integrated in-fiber coupler for a whispering-gallery mode microsphere resonator

An integrated in-fiber coupler is proposed and demonstrated, which can excite whispering-gallery mode (WGM) in a microsphere resonator. This device is fabricated firstly by using femtosecond laser micromachining and a fusing splicing technique to create an inner air cavity with a suspended fiber core, then an open micro-channel is drilled on the top of the inner air cavity, and finally a microsphere is placed inside the air cavity, in contact with the suspended fiber core, to excite the WGM through the evanescent field. In the transmission spectrum of the device, the slopes of the two asymmetric Fano resonance lines of 41.12 dB/nm and $ - {18.46}\;{\rm dB/nm}$-18.46dB/nm, respectively, and a symmetrical Lorentz line with a quality factor of ${9.32} \times {{10}^3}$9.32×10³ can be obtained simultaneously. Such an in-fiber WGM microsphere resonator has the advantages of compact structure, convenient operation, and high durability.

Tunable Whispering Gallery Mode Photonic Device Based on Microstructured Optical Fiber with Internal Electrodes

We propose and experimentally demonstrate the first tunable whispering gallery mode (WGM) photonic device based on side-hole microstructured optical fiber (SH-MOF) with internal electrodes, in which the WGM quality factors do not decrease significantly during the tuning process. The resonant modes are redshifted simply by increasing the temperature. A description of the thermal tuning properties of the WGMs in SH-MOF with internal electrodes is performed by using a two-stage computational methodology, where the effects of metal filling process are considered. SH-MOF devices with internal electrodes are tested and the experimental results show excellent agreement with the theory. A linear relationship between the shift rate of the WGM modes and temperature is observed. The tunable SH-MOF microresonator with internal electrodes is anticipated to find potential applications in optical filtering, optical switching, and highly integrated tunable photonic devices.

MWP phase shifters integrated in PbS-SU8 waveguides

We present new kind of microwave phase shifters (MPS) based on dispersion of PbS colloidal quantum dots (QDs) in commercially available photoresist SU8 after a ligand exchange process. Ridge PbS-SU8 waveguides are implemented by integration of the nanocomposite in a silicon platform. When these waveguides are pumped at wavelengths below the band-gap of the PbS QDs, a phase shift in an optically conveyed (at 1550 nm) microwave signal is produced. The strong light confinement produced in the ridge waveguides allows an improvement of the phase shift as compared to the case of planar structures. Moreover, a novel ridge bilayer waveguide composed by a PbS-SU8 nanocomposite and a SU8 passive layer is proposed to decrease the propagation losses of the pump beam and in consequence to improve the microwave phase shift up to 36.5° at 25 GHz. Experimental results are reproduced by a theoretical model based on the slow light effect produced in a semiconductor waveguide due to the coherent population oscillations. The resulting device shows potential benefits respect to the current MPS technologies since it allows a fast tunability of the phase shift and a high level of integration due to its small size.

Whispering gallery mode microsphere resonator integrated inside a microstructured optical fiber

A compact and robust scheme for broadband excitation of whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonances into a microsphere is demonstrated. A polymer microsphere (10 μm) is encapsulated into the capillary of a microstructured optical fiber, in direct contact with the guiding core. Such a configuration allows efficient and reproducible excitation of the in-MOF-microsphere resonator that is characterized by two launch/collection schemes: core input/scattering output, and sphere input/core output. The latter allows an excitation of the microsphere WGMs externally to the fiber. Numerically calculated WGM spectra are in agreement with experiments. Q factors in the range of 10(3) are typically measured.

Metallic diffraction grating enhanced coupling in whispering gallery resonator

For the first time, metallic diffraction grating is investigated to enable efficient coupling in the whispering gallery resonator (WGR). Six-fold field enhancement in the resonator is achieved with respect to their dielectric counter-parts. This higher coupling efficiency is attributed to the surface plasmon excitation which drives the whispering gallery mode along the grating. Fano resonances have been observed in optical reflection. With the metallic grating, single-port end-fire WGR configuration becomes possible - a scheme that has not been demonstrated in any other WGR coupling devices. Hence, it serves as a prototype for portable whispering gallery devices potentially useful in sensing, switching and nonlinear applications.