Abstract
The optical whispering-gallery modes of dielectric microspheres can have extremely sharp resonances, with quality factors as large as Q = 10<SUP>10</SUP>. Using evanescent coupling for input and output, an effective ring resonator is produced, with a large intracavity field enhancement. It has been suggested that optical nonlinearities might be enhanced using these modes. Our effort to do so is described herein. The nonlinear medium is a composite, in which semiconductor nanoparticles are the active component and constitute a small volume fraction. This can be achieved by fabricating microspheres from semiconductor-doped glasses or by coating fused-silica spheres. Because the field distribution of a whispering-gallery mode is strongly localized near the sphere's surface and includes an evanescent tail external to the sphere, thin-film coating is a practical option, and this technique offers several advantages. The properties of whispering-gallery modes and optical coupling are discussed, the processes of fabrication and coating are described, and the operational characteristics and potential applications of nonlinear optical behavior in microspheres are considered.
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