We perform numerical studies of the effect of sidewall imperfections on the resonant state broadening of the optical microdisk cavities for lasing applications. We demonstrate that even small edge roughness (. λ/30) causes a drastic degradation of high-Q whispering gallery (WG) mode resonances reducing their Q-values by many orders of magnitude. At the same time, low-Q WG resonances are rather ...

As new synthetic, low-loss polymers are developed, polymer optical cavities are experiencing a revolution, in both fabrication design and functionality. Recently, a fabrication technique was developed that enabled planar arrays of polymeric resonators to achieve cavity Q factors greater than 1 million. In the present letter, this molding technique is expanded to fabricate resonators from polyme...

Silicon resonant microdisk and microring modulators and switches based on free-carrier depletion and injection were designed and fabricated with the aim of minimizing device radius to theoretical bend-radiation imposed limits. Minimizing device area serves to simultaneously maximize resonator free-spectral-range, minimize switching energy, and maximize component density, all critical parameters...

We investigate the possibility of using dielectric microdisk resonators for the optical detection of single atoms trapped and cooled in magnetic microtraps near the surface of a substrate. The bound and evanescent fields of optical whispering-gallery modes are calculated and the coupling to straight waveguides is investigated using finite-difference time domain solutions of Maxwell’s equations....

Mechanisms of whispering-gallery (WG)-mode coupling in microdisk photonic molecules (PMs) with slight and significant size mismatches are numerically investigated. The results reveal two different scenarios of modes interaction depending on the degree of this mismatch and offer new insight into how PM parameters can be tuned to control and modify WG-mode wavelengths and Q factors. From a practi...