Rotation-induced Asymmetry of Far-field Emission from Optical Microcavities

TL;DR

This paper explores how rotation causes asymmetry in the far-field emission of optical microcavities, proposing a new rotation detection scheme that surpasses the traditional Sagnac effect in sensitivity.

Contribution

It introduces a novel rotation sensing method based on far-field emission asymmetry, avoiding the dead zone of the Sagnac effect and enabling significant sensitivity enhancement.

Findings

Far-field asymmetry can detect rotation without dead zone.

A 10^4 times improvement in minimal detectable rotation speed is estimated.

Coupled-mode theory explains and guides optimization of the sensitivity.

Abstract

We study rotation-induced asymmetry of far-field emission from optical microcavities, based on which a new scheme of rotation detection may be developed. It is free from the "dead zone" caused by the frequency splitting of standing-wave resonances at rest, in contrast to the Sagnac effect. A coupled-mode theory is employed to provide a quantitative explanation and guidance on the optimization of the far-field sensitivity to rotation. We estimate that a 10^4 enhancement of the minimal detectable rotation speed can be achieved by measuring the far-field asymmetry, instead of the Sagnac effect, in microcavities 5 microns in radius and with distinct emission directions for clockwise and counterclockwise waves.