Composite micro-sphere optical resonators for electric field measurement

Abstract

Polymer-based, multi-layered dielectric microspheres are investigated for high-resolution electric field sensing. The external electric field induces changes in the morphology of the spheres, leading to shifts in the whispering gallery modes (WGMs). Light from a distributed feedback (DFB) laser is sidecoupled into the microspheres using a tapered section of a single mode optical fiber to interrogate the optical modes. The base material of these multi-layered spheres is polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Three microsphere geometries are investigated: (1) cores comprised of a 60:1 volumetric ratio of PDMS-to-curing agent mixture that are mixed with varying amounts of barium titanate (BaTiO3) nano particles, (2) cores comprised of 60:1 PDMS that are coated with a thin layer of 60:1 PDMS that is mixed with varying amounts of barium titanate and (3) a composite Carbon Black-BaTiO3 prototype. The outermost layer for all sphere geometries is a thin coat of 60:1 PDMS which serves as the shell waveguide. Light from the tapered laser is coupled into this outermost shell that provides high optical quality factor WGM (Q ~ 10 6 ). The microspheres are poled for several hours at electric fields of ~ 1 MV/m to increase their sensitivity to electric field. Preliminary results show that electric fields of the order of 100 V/m can be detected using these composite micro-resonators.