Observations of interior whispering gallery modes in asymmetric optical resonators with rational caustics

TL;DR

This paper introduces asymmetric optical resonators with rational caustics, demonstrating interior whispering gallery modes in silicon microcavities that exhibit robustness against scattering, with potential applications in lasers and quantum devices.

Contribution

The work presents the design and experimental validation of asymmetric resonant cavities with rational caustics, revealing interior whispering gallery modes with enhanced robustness.

Findings

Robust cavity Q factor against roughness Rayleigh scattering

Distinct resonant families observed via angle-resolved measurements

Asymmetric emission patterns suitable for laser and CQED applications

Abstract

We propose asymmetric resonant cavities with rational caustics and experimentally demonstrate interior whispering gallery modes in monolithic silicon mesoscopic microcavities. These microcavities demonstrate unique robustness of cavity quality factor (Q) against roughness Rayleigh scattering. Angle-resolved tapered fiber measurements and near-field images observe distinct resonant families and asymmetric emission from interior whispering gallery modes, which can be used for microcavity laser and CQED applications.