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arXiv:quant-ph/0008010 · Optics Letters

Frequency tuning of the whispering-gallery modes of silica microspheres for cavity quantum electrodynamics and spectroscopy

Wolf von Klitzing, Romain Long, Vladimir S. Ilchenko, Jean Hare, Valérie Lefèvre-Seguin

Published Feb 1, 2001• 108 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We have tuned the whispering-gallery modes of a fused-silica microresonator over nearly 1 nm at 800 nm, i.e., over half a free spectral range, or 10(6) linewidths of the resonator. This result has been achieved by use of a new method based on the stretching of a two-stem microsphere. We describe devices that will permit new cavity QED experiments with this high- Q optical resonator when it is desirable to optimize its coupling to emitters with given transition frequencies. The demonstrated tuning capability is compatible with both UHV and low-temperature operation, which should be useful for future experiments with laser-cooled atoms or single quantum dots.

DOI
10.1364/ol.26.000166

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We have tuned the whispering gallery modes of a fused silica micro-resonator over nearly 1 nm at 800 nm, i.e. over half of a free spectral range or the equivalent of 10 6 linewidths of the resonator. This has been achieved by a new method based on the stretching of a two-stem microsphere. The devices described below will permit new cavity-QED experiments with this ultra high finesse optical resonator when it is desirable to optimize its coupling to emitters with given transition frequencies. The tuning capability demonstrated is compatible with both UHV and low temperature operation, which should be useful for future experiments with laser cooled atoms or single quantum dots. A general overview of the current state of the art in microspheres is given as well as a more general introduction.

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arXiv:1203.1434•Japanese Journal of Applied Physics•Apr 27, 2012•14 citations
We have tuned the whispering-gallery modes of a fused-silica microresonator over nearly 1 nm at 800 nm, i.e., over half a free spectral range, or 10(6) linewidths of the resonator. This result has been achieved by use of a new method based on the stretching of a two-stem microsphere. We describe devices that will permit new cavity QED experiments with this high- Q optical resonator when it is desirable to optimize its coupling to emitters with given transition frequencies. The demonstrated tuning capability is compatible with both UHV and low-temperature operation, which should be useful for future experiments with laser-cooled atoms or single quantum dots.
We have tuned the whispering gallery modes of a fused silica micro-resonator over nearly 1 nm at 800 nm, i.e. over half of a free spectral range or the equivalent of 10 6 linewidths of the resonator. This has been achieved by a new method based on the stretching of a two-stem microsphere. The devices described below will permit new cavity-QED experiments with this ultra high finesse optical resonator when it is desirable to optimize its coupling to emitters with given transition frequencies. The tuning capability demonstrated is compatible with both UHV and low temperature operation, which should be useful for future experiments with laser cooled atoms or single quantum dots. A general overview of the current state of the art in microspheres is given as well as a more general introduction.
We theoretically study the properties of highly prolate-shaped dielectric microresonators. Such resonators sustain whispering-gallery modes that exhibit two spatially well-separated regions with enhanced field strength. The field per photon on the resonator surface is significantly higher than, e.g., for equatorial whispering-gallery modes in microsphere resonators with a comparable mode volume. At the same time, the frequency spacing of these modes is much more favorable, so that a tuning range of several free spectral ranges should be attainable. We discuss the possible application of such resonators for cavity quantum electrodynamics experiments with neutral atoms and reveal distinct advantages with respect to existing concepts.
We experimentally demonstrate the mechanical tuning of whispering gallery modes in a 40 μm diameter silica microsphere at 10K, over a tuning range of 450 GHz and with a resolution less than 10 MHz. This is achieved by mechanically stretching the stems of a double-stemmed silica microsphere with a commercially available piezo-driven nano-positioner. The large tuning range is made possible by the millimeter long slip-stick motion of the nano-positioner. The ultrafine tuning resolution, corresponding to sub-picometer changes in the sphere diameter, is enabled by the use of relatively long and thin fiber stems, which reduces the effective Poisson ratio of the combined sphere-stem system to approximately 0.0005. The mechanical tuning demonstrated here removes a major obstacle for the use of ultrahigh Q-factor silica microspheres in cavity QED studies of solid state systems and, in particular, cavity QED studies of nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond.
Summary form only given, as follows: The high Q whispering gallery modes of silica microspheres are promising for quantum optics and nonlinear optics experiments involving atoms and photons stored in very small volumes. We have developed the technology of these resonators, learning how to couple light in and out through optical fibers, how to obtain and measure record Q factors, and how to probe, by near-field optical microscopy, the electric field distribution immediately outside the sphere. Whispering gallery mode lasers have also been obtained with microspheres made of silica doped with neodymium ions. We describe these experiments and discuss projects involving the coupling of whispering gallery modes to single atoms or ions to perform cavity QED experiments in the optical domain.
For cavity quantum electrodynamics systems (cavity-QED) to play a role in quantum information processing applications and in quantum networks, they must be robust and scalable in addition to having a suitable method for the generation, processing and storage of quantum bits. One solution is to develop a composite system that couples a nitrogen vacancy (NV) center in diamond to a whispering gallery mode supported by a fused silica microsphere. Such a system is motivated by the optical and electron-spin properties of the NV center. The NV center is the leading spin-qubit and exhibits atomic like linewidths at cryogenic temperatures and has spin coherence times greater than milliseconds at room temperature. These long coherence times, coupled with nanosecond scale spin readout and manipulation times, allow for millions of quantum operations to be processed. Silica whispering gallery resonators are the only class of microresonators with quality factor high enough to reach the strong coupling regime, which is necessary for some quantum information processing applications. \n \nIntegrating these two components into a system that could position a diamond nanopillar near the surface of a deformed-double stemmed microsphere system, with nanometer precision, at 10 K was a major achievement of this research. Cavity resonances in deformed microspheres can be excited with a free-space coupling technique which simplifies their integration into cryogenic environments. In these intentionally deformed resonators, an enhanced evanescent field decay length was observed at specific locations along the ray orbit. The double-stem arrangement enables the cavity resonance to be tuned over 450 GHz, with sub-10 MHz resolution, at 10 K. These two features, the enhanced decay length and broad range tuning with high resolution, are indispensible tools for cavity-QED studies with silica microspheres. \n \nDiamond nanopillars were fabricated from single crystal diamond with diameters as small as 140 nm in order to maintain a high quality factor. Studies were conducted on NV centers in nanopillars and bulk diamond to determine their suitability for cavity-QED applications. In an attempt to increase the light-matter interaction between NV centers and whispering gallery modes, diamond substrates were optically characterized that were irradiated with nitrogen ions.
We present experimental results on an all-optical, thermally-assisted technique for broad range tuning of microsphere cavity resonance modes to arbitrary probe wavelengths. An erbium:ytterbium co-doped phosphate glass (Schott IOG-2) microsphere is pumped at 978 nm via the supporting stem and the heat generated by absorption of the pump light expands the cavity and changes the refractive index. This is a robust tuning method that decouples the pump from the probe and allows fine tuning of the microsphere's whispering gallery modes. Pump/probe experiments were performed to demonstrate thermo-optical tuning to specific probe wavelengths, including the5S1/2F= 3 to5P3/2F'= 4 laser cooling transition of rubidium-85. This is of particular interest for cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED)-type experiments, while the broad tuning range achievable is useful for integrated photonic devices, including sensors and modulators.