Characterization of high-Q optical microcavities using confocal microscopy
Abstract
Confocal microscopy was initially developed to image complex circuits and material defects. Previous imaging studies yielded only qualitative data about the location and number of defects. In the present study, this noninvasive method is used to obtain quantitative information about the Q factor of an optical resonant cavity. Because the intensity of the fluorescent signal measures the number of defects in the resonant cavity, this signal is a measure of the number of surface scattering defects, one of the dominant loss mechanisms in optical microcavities. The Q of the cavities was also determined using conventional linewidth measurements. Based upon a quantitative comparative analysis of these two techniques, it is shown that the Q can be determined without a linewidth measurement, allowing for a noninvasive characterization technique.
Additional Information
© 2008 Optical Society of America. Received June 2, 2008; revised October 24, 2008; accepted October 25, 2008; posted October 28, 2008 (Doc. ID 96876); published December 4, 2008. This work was supported at the California Institute of Technology at the Beckman Imaging Center and by the University of Southern California by the Program on Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) and the Provost's Initiative on Biomedical Nanoscience.Attached Files
Published - KULol08.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 13506
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:KULol08
- Caltech Beckman Institute
- University of Southern California
- Created
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2009-05-04Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-08Created from EPrint's last_modified field