Single Microcavity Research Articles

Tailoring upconversion fluorescence of lanthanide doped nanocrystals by coupling to single microcavity mode with specific symmetry

Lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles have unique optical properties that can absorb low-energy infrared photons and then emit higher-energy visible ones, which have been widely used for advanced optical sensors and fluorescent probes. Efficiently tailoring the upconversion emission is desirable for meeting the wavelength requirement in various application fields. However, up to now, optimizing the composition combining with core/shell structure is still the predominant way to reach this goal. Here, we show that the relative intensities of the emission peaks of upconverting nanoparticles can be tuned by coupling to single microcavity mode with specific symmetry. Theoretical calculation based on the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) indicates that the symmetries of the microcavity modes dominate their resonant absorption properties in the visible region. As a result, the upconversion emission peaks vary in these microcavities with different symmetries. This route can be developed for tailoring the emission spectra of other luminescent materials, such as quantum dots and fluorescent dyes.

Exceptional point proximity-driven mode-locking in coupled microresonators

We show theoretically and numerically that mode-locking is feasible with a coupled-cavity system with gain and loss, notably, without any natural saturable absorber. We highlight that in the vicinity of the exceptional point, system Q exhibits substantial modulation even with minor refractive index changes and a minimal Kerr effect contribution. Leveraging this unique behavior, we propose an unprecedented approach wherein the lossy auxiliary cavity functions as an efficient artificial saturable absorber, thus facilitating mode-locking. This approach is not only novel, but also presents considerable advantages over conventional systems where both gain and saturable absorption are contained within a single microcavity. These benefits include reduced operational power and ease of post-adjustment, achievable through the manipulation of the coupling strength between the two microcavities.

Influence of Non-Parallelism on the Micro-Interface Lubrication Mechanism of Water-Lubricated Bearings

Water-lubricated bearings can effectively solve the pollution problem caused by lubricant leakage and are used in offshore engineering equipment for this reason. Aiming at the problems of unclear and undefined micro-interface lubrication mechanisms of water-lubricated bearings, this paper investigates the influence of non-parallel micro-cavities on the micro-interface lubrication mechanism of bearings. Based on a single micro-cavity model, the lubrication mechanism of micro-cavities is studied in this paper. Lubrication models of the non-parallel contact friction pairs model are built, and the effect of the non-parallelism on the lubrication performance of the micro-cavities is obtained using the computational fluid dynamics method. The results show that, under the same Reynolds number and cavitation pressure, the wedge effect caused by the non-parallelism causes the pressure at the inlet to rise, thus increasing the load-carrying capacity. The existence of non-parallelism limits the rise of the high pressure of the inertia effect on the micro-cavities and reduces the load-carrying capacity. The presence of non-parallelism decreases the area of the negative pressure proportion and increases the proportion of the positive pressure zone inside the micro-cavities, thus increasing the load-carrying capacity.

A Two‐Step Entanglement Concentration for the Less‐Entangled Four‐Photon Cluster States

AbstractEntanglement concentration serves as an essential tool to obtain the maximally entangled states from the less‐entangled states in quantum information processing tasks. An efficient two‐step entanglement concentration protocol (ECP) is proposed to concentrate the less‐entangled four‐photon cluster states with four unknown coefficients into the maximally entangled states in this paper. The protocol utilizes parity‐check gate and photon‐polarized controlled‐Z gate, constructed with a single semiconductor quantum dot in a single optical microcavity (quantum dot‐cavity coupled system) and several linear optical elements. The discarded quantum states can be recycled in the next round concentration to achieve a higher success probability. Under conditions of strong coupling and weak side leakage rate, the ECP can tend toward ideal fidelity and efficiency. Compared to the previously proposed ECPs that utilize various auxiliary tools such as additional entangled states and complex quantum logic gates, the ECP significantly simplifies the analysis process and enables efficient implementation. Thus, the ECP is more economical and feasible in future optical systems.

Temporal evolution and spectral characteristics of dual field in a double-pumped microcavity

To generate dual combs for various precision measurements, the temporal evolution and spectral characteristics of dual fields in a double-pumped microcavity are investigated. Results show that by using dual orthogonally polarized pumps, the dual fields can be controlled by regulating the two detunings. The coexistence of solitons and Turing patterns, which is equivalent to dual-frequency combs with a large repetition frequency difference, can be excited. Two positive detuning parameters are similar, and two soliton pulses with identical free spectral ranges and different intensities are formed. Moreover, two weaker positive detunings are beneficial for the dual Turing patterns. Furthermore, breathers and multiple pulses can be excited under special conditions. The effects of dispersion and pump intensity on the dual fields are also studied. Dual combs exist in an anomalous dispersion regime and the strong negative dispersion only leads to DC fields. For the pump intensity, with the increase of pumping power, one field experiences breathers and variable multi-pulse in sequence while the other field maintains Turing patterns. The results of this study provide a new approach to excite dual-frequency combs by using a single microcavity.

Effect of the shape and size of interfacial micro-cavities on the adhesion of elastic solids

Microstructuring surfaces may strongly affect the adhesive behaviour at the contact interface, resulting in enhanced or weakened adhesion depending on the geometry of the surface structures and material properties. In this study we investigate the effects of size, shape and geometrical distribution of micro-cavities on the adhesion between an elastic solid and a rigid substrate. We show that reducing the lattice size by keeping constant the cavity size, may significantly weak the adhesion strength of the interface as a consequence of the interaction of the elastic stress and deformation fields generated by each single microcavity.

Investigation of near-field optical tweezers based on the edge effect of extraordinary optical transmission in thin microcavity

Optical tweezers are powerful tools capable to trap and manipulate particles directly. However, using conventional optical tweezers for nanosized objects remains a formidable challenge due to the optical diffraction limits and high-power levels required for nanoscale trapping, which usually causes irreversible damage to the captured particles. In this paper, we investigate the near-field edge effect of thin microcavity due to macroscopic quantum effect, and the highly enhanced electric field can reach 2.4 times. Thus, a dual near-field optical trap potential well is generated at the edge of the thin microcavity. We theoretically show that this near-field potential well can stably capture nanoparticles smaller than 10 nm while keeping the incident optical power level below 100 mW. Besides, the relationship between size of the microcavity and optical gradient force has also been carefully studied. Finally, the theoretical model of near-field optical tweezers with double thin microcavity is established, and the electric field magnitude of the double microcavity model is enhanced by 4.5 times compared with single microcavity model, in which the coupling effect of double hole makes smaller particles be stably trapped. Our research presents a huge potential for optical trapping and separation of nanoparticles and biomolecules.

Bloch theorem dictated wave chaos in microcavity crystals

Universality class of wave chaos emerges in many areas of science, such as molecular dynamics, optics, and network theory. In this work, we generalize the wave chaos theory to cavity lattice systems by discovering the intrinsic coupling of the crystal momentum to the internal cavity dynamics. The cavity-momentum locking substitutes the role of the deformed boundary shape in the ordinary single microcavity problem, providing a new platform for the in situ study of microcavity light dynamics. The transmutation of wave chaos in periodic lattices leads to a phase space reconfiguration that induces a dynamical localization transition. The degenerate scar-mode spinors hybridize and non-trivially localize around regular islands in phase space. In addition, we find that the momentum coupling becomes maximal at the Brillouin zone boundary, so the intercavity chaotic modes coupling and wave confinement are significantly altered. Our work pioneers the study of intertwining wave chaos in periodic systems and provide useful applications in light dynamics control.

Critical optical-hysteresis regime and optical-bistability transformation

In this paper, we study the optical-hysteresis regime in a driven-dissipative Bose-Hubbard dimer under a symmetric configuration and analyze the classical optical bistability with the Gross-Pitaevskii mean-field approach. We find that the critical point of the optical-hysteresis regime can be determined by the classical optical-bistability transformation predicted with a steady state equation, and the critical tunneling rate is given by analyzing the bistable threshold points. In addition, we apply the same approach to a single nonlinear microcavity coupled with an atom and the critical atom-cavity coupling strength of the optical-hysteresis regime is also obtained. Finally, in order to illustrate that the critical point could be determined by the classical optical-bistability transformation, we analyze the Liouvillian gap and find it opens at the critical point of the optical-hysteresis regime. This work clarifies the relation between optical hysteresis and classical optical bistability, which provides theoretical references for the modulation of optical hysteresis in experiment.

Controllable EIT-like mode splitting in a chiral microcavity.

Two coupled resonance modes can lead to exotic transmission spectra due to internal interference processes. Examples include electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in atoms and mode splitting in optics. The ability to control individual modes plays a crucial role in controlling such transmission spectra for practical applications. Here we experimentally demonstrate a controllable EIT-like mode splitting in a single microcavity using a double-port excitation. The mode splitting caused by internal coupling between two counter-propagating resonances can be effectively controlled by varying the power of the two inputs, as well as their relative phase. Moreover, the presence of asymmetric scattering in the microcavity leads to chiral behaviors in the mode splitting in the two propagating directions, manifesting itself in terms of a Fano-like resonance mode. These results may offer a compact platform for a tunable device in all-optical information processing.

Kerr soliton frequency comb generation by tuning the coupling coefficient in coupled nonlinear microcavities.

Kerr soliton frequency comb generation in nonlinear microcavities with compact configurations are promising on-chip sources. Current Kerr comb generation by using a single microcavity with a tunable CW pump laser or high-power femtosecond pulse pump are difficult to be integrated on chip. In this paper, we propose an on-chip soliton comb generation scheme by tuning the coupling coefficient of two coupled microcavities instead of tuning the wavelength of the cw pump laser or using a pulsed pump laser in a single microcavity. The two microcavities are assumed to be identical. We showed by numerical simulation that Kerr comb generation is possible in both the blue and red detuned regions of the main microcavity in the coupled cavity system. We further found that the range and boundary of the soliton generation region of the couple microcavities depend on the coupling coefficient between the coupled cavities. To ensure that the modes being coupled have identical optical paths, we designed a Sagnac loop structure which couples the clockwise and counterclockwise modes in a single microcavity and demonstrated Kerr comb generation in both the blue and red detuned regions by tuning the coupling coefficient. The proposed Kerr comb generation scheme can be utilized for chip-scale integrated soliton comb sources, which will contribute to the development of on-chip applications.

Organic copolymer lasing from single defect microcavity fabricated using laser patterning

This study uses a laser patterning setup to write defect structures into a conjugated polymer microcavity. We show that the defect enhances optical confinement and reduces the lasing threshold.

Thermal Gradient Induced Transparency and Absorption in a Microcavity

AbstractGeneration of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) and absorption (EIA) effects in optical cavity systems paves a way for many applications ranging from fundamental physics to various photonic applications, such as analogous quantum interference effects, slow light, and light storage. Here, thermal gradient induced transparency (TGIT) and absorption (TGIA) effects in a single microcavity are proposed and demonstrated. The effects originate from the unique temperature gradient in the axial direction of the functionalized microbottle cavity, which leads to different resonance evolutions for whispering gallery modes with different axial orders. Furthermore, this platform is leveraged as a probe to realize a direct temperature readout from the transmission spectrum via multiple TGIT (TGIA is also applicable)‐based photonic barcodes with a high detection resolution of 9 × 10−4 °C. This platform offers a novel, highly efficient, and simple scheme to realize dynamic mode coupling for various applications, such as light storage and temperature detection.

High-Density Weak in-Fiber Micro-Cavity Array for Distributed High-Temperature Sensing With Millimeter Spatial Resolution

High-spatial-resolution distributed sensing at high temperature is crucial in many industrial areas, such as aero-engines, nuclear power, furnaces, and fuel cells. Here, we propose and demonstrate a large-scale multiplexed high-density weak in-fiber micro-cavity (MC) array for distributed high-temperature sensing with millimeter spatial resolution. The proposed in-fiber MC, featured by an intrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer (IFPI) with a short cavity length of 100 μm and a low peak reflectivity of ∼−55 dB, was formed by two weak reflectors created in a conventional single-mode fiber (SMF) by using femtosecond laser point-by-point inscription. Several high-density MC arrays, consisting of identical weak IFPIs over 1000, were fabricated by using different femtosecond laser pulse energy to investigate the transmission loss (TL) of MC arrays. The experimental result shows that the TL induced by a single MC could be low as 0.0009 dB. Moreover, the high-temperature performance of the MCs was studied via cyclic heating and cooling between room temperature and 1000 °C, showing a temperature sensitivity of −2.29 GHz/°C (i.e., 18.4 pm/°C). Furthermore, distributed high-temperature sensing was demonstrated by employing the fabricated in-fiber MC array with the demodulation of optical frequency domain reflectometry, and a high spatial resolution of 1 mm was achieved at a high temperature of 1000 °C. As such, the proposed high-density weak in-fiber MC arrays are suitable for distributed high-temperature sensing in harsh environment, and hence have wide prospection of application in the fields of aerospace, nuclear power, metallurgy, and electrochemical industry.

Synthetic five-wave mixing in an integrated microcavity for visible-telecom entanglement generation

Nonlinear optics processes lie at the heart of photonics and quantum optics for their indispensable role in light sources and information processing. During the past decades, the three- and four-wave mixing (χ(2) and χ(3)) effects have been extensively studied, especially in the micro-/nano-structures by which the photon-photon interaction strength is greatly enhanced. So far, the high-order nonlinearity beyond the χ(3) has rarely been studied in dielectric materials due to their weak intrinsic nonlinear susceptibility, even in high-quality microcavities. Here, an effective five-wave mixing process (χ(4)) is synthesized by incorporating χ(2) and χ(3) processes in a single microcavity. The coherence of the synthetic χ(4) is verified by generating time-energy entangled visible-telecom photon pairs, which requires only one drive laser at the telecom waveband. The photon-pair generation rate from the synthetic process shows an estimated enhancement factor over 500 times upon intrinsic five-wave mixing. Our work demonstrates a universal approach of nonlinear synthesis via photonic structure engineering at the mesoscopic scale rather than material engineering, and thus opens a new avenue for realizing high-order optical nonlinearities and exploring functional photonic devices.

Simulations of single-mode laser emission along a waveguide connected to cross-coupled microresonators

ObjectiveSingle-mode operation is very important for laser emissivity; to exceed the emissivity of a single laser, the phase locking of all lasers in an array can be achieved only when the laser array is coupled and operated in single-mode. MethodsIn this study, a single-mode laser emitted along the waveguide was realized through cross-coupling microspheres connected to a straight waveguide. Whispering-gallery modes were formed at the equators of the two microspheres when their resonance conditions were simultaneously satisfied. Compared with a single microcavity, the FSR of the coupled microcavities was significantly increased owing to the Vernier effect. Moreover, when the waveguide was coupled with the microspheres in the weak field of the resonance modes, the whispering-gallery modes near the equator were significantly suppressed, and a new quadrilateral mode was formed. ResultThe energy in the coupling microspheres was concentrated in the stable quadrilateral mode and the Q factor was high (∼104). The single-mode laser energy in the waveguide accounted for 82 % of the total optical radiation energy of the device. This work has application prospects in laser switches and on-chip light sources.

Modulation instability generation with blue-detuned pump laser in coupled microcavities

Optical frequency combs based on microcavities with Kerr nonlinearity are promising frequency comb sources for many applications. A typical Kerr soliton comb is generated in a nonlinear microcavity with anomalous dispersion pumped by a red-detuned continuous-wave laser. Modulation instability (MI) is the basis for Kerr soliton comb generation. In a microcavity with nearly zero dispersion, the first pair of MI modes can grow only with a red-detuned pump laser. In this paper, we find that MI generation is possible with blue-detuned pump lasers for coupled microcavities with nearly zero dispersion. We study a microcavity with Kerr nonlinearity coupled with an auxiliary microcavity, which has negligible nonlinearity. By theoretical analysis, we show that the coupled microcavities can create a region supporting MI generation in the blue-detuned side of the resonances of the nonlinear main cavity, whereas there is no blue-detuned MI generation in a single nonlinear microcavity. The properties of the blue-detuned MI region are determined by the coupling coefficient between the two microcavities, the loss of the auxiliary cavity, and the detuning between the modes of the two microcavities. The size and location of the blue-detuned MI region can be varied by tuning these parameters. Numerical simulations of MI generation based on the blue-detuned MI region in the coupled microcavities are presented. By considering more modes, MI comb generations with coupled microcavities having anomalous and normal dispersion are also numerically simulated.

Single-mode lasing in a coupled twin circular-side-octagon microcavity

We demonstrate the curvature of coupled twin circular-side-octagon microcavity (TCOM) lasers as the degree of freedom to realize manipulation of mode quality (Q) factor and lasing characteristics. Numerical simulation results indicate that mode Q factors varying from 104 to 108, wavelength intervals of different transverse modes, and mode numbers for four-bounce modes can be manipulated for five different deformations. Global mode distributes throughout coupled microcavity with mode Q factor around the order of 104 or 105. Four-bounce modes lase with injection currents applied single microcavity. By pumping both microcavities simultaneously, single-mode lasing for global modes with side mode suppression ratios (SMSRs) of 30, 32, 32, 31, and 36 dB is achieved at the deformation of 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 with four-bounce modes suppressed, respectively. Moreover, the linewidths less than 11 MHz for the single mode are obtained with the deformation of 2. The results show that the lasing modes can be efficiently manipulated considering variable curvature for TCOM lasers, which can promote practical applications of microcavity lasers.

Electromagnetically induced transparency with a single optomechanical microring resonator.

An all-optical realization scheme of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in a single silicon optomechanical microring resonator is proposed and demonstrated. Due to the strong mechanical Kerr effect and well-designed microring resonator, two modes with a resonant frequency separation of 292 GHz (2.35 nm) can be tuned into resonance when the control power is about 4.3 µW, and the EIT spectrum is achieved. Our work provides a constructive solution for realizing EIT in a single microcavity with a low mode density. Furthermore, this device is fully integrated on-chip and compatible with current complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) processing and has great potential in applications such as light storage, optical sensing, and quantum optics.

Nanogap Enabled Trajectory Splitting and 3D Optical Coupling in Self-Assembled Microtubular Cavities.

We report the generation of multiple sets of 3D confined resonant modes in a single microtube cavity owing to nanogap induced resonant trajectory splits. The optical field largely overlaps in the split resonant trajectories, enabling strong optical coupling of 3D confined resonant light. The anticrossing feature and modes changing-over were demonstrated as direct evidence of strong coupling. In such an optical coupling system, the spatial optical field distribution of 3D coupling modes was experimentally mapped under the strong coupling regime, which allows direct observation of the energy transfer process between two hybrid states. Numerical calculations based on a quasi-potential model and the mode detuning process are in excellent agreement with the experimental results. The generation of multiple sets of 3D confined resonant modes and their efficient coupling in a single microcavity are of high interest for directional coupling with a higher degree of freedom to realize on-chip integration with elevated functionalities such as multiplexing, 3D lasing, and signal processing.