Magnesium Fluoride Whispering Gallery Mode Disk-Resonators for Microwave Photonics Applications

Author

Tavernier, Hervé ; Salzenstein, Patrice ; Volyanskiy, Kirill ; Chembo, Yanne Kouomou ; Larger, Laurent

Author_Institution

Opt. Dept., FEMTO-ST Inst., Besançcon, France

Volume

22

Issue

22

fYear

2010

Firstpage

1629

Lastpage

1631

Abstract

We have manufactured a high-Q whispering gallery mode resonator with magnesium fluoride for microwave photonics applications in the gigahertz frequency range. This crystal is scarcely used for resonator fabrication despite its numerous advantages, that are mainly high mechanical hardness, low sensitivity to water vapor pollution, and low sensitivity to photo- and thermo-refractive fluctuations at optimal temperatures. Using a customized machining procedure, we have successfully fabricated and characterized a 5-mm resonator with a surface rugosity of the order of 1 nm (from 3 to 12 atoms). Cavity ring-down measurements enabled us to determine that the resonator has a quality factor Q = 3.4 × 10⁸ at 1550 nm.

Keywords

magnesium compounds; microwave photonics; optical fabrication; optical resonators; whispering gallery modes; MgF₂; cavity ringdown measurements; high-Q whispering gallery mode resonator; machining procedure; mechanical hardness; microwave photonics applications; size 5 mm; wavelength 1550 nm; whispering gallery mode disk resonators; Cavity resonators; Materials; Nonlinear optics; Optical resonators; Photonics; Q factor; Resonant frequency; Magnesium fluoride; optical cavity; whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonator;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LPT.2010.2075923

Filename

5570900