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Dissipative Kerr solitons in high quality microresonators have attracted much attention in the past few years. They provide ideal platforms for a number of applications. Here, we fabricate the Si

Whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonators provide an important platform for fine measurement thanks to their small size, high sensitivity, and fast response time. Nevertheless, traditional methods focus on tracking single-mode changes for measurement, and a great deal of information from other resonances is ignored and wasted. Here, we demonstrate that the proposed multimode sensing contains more Fisher information than single mode tracking and has great potential to achieve better performance. Based on a microbubble resonator, a temperature detection system has been built to systematically investigate the proposed multimode sensing method. After the multimode spectral signals are collected by the automated experimental setup, a machine learning algorithm is used to predict the unknown temperature by taking full advantage of multiple resonances. The results show the average error of 3.8 × 10−3°C within the range from 25.00°C to 40.00°C by employing a generalized regression neural network (GRNN). In addition, we have also discussed the influence of the consumed data resource on its predicted performance, such as the amount of training data and the case of different temperate ranges between the training and test data. With high accuracy and large dynamic range, this work paves the way for WGM resonator-based intelligent optical sensing.

This study introduces design and coupling techniques, which bridge an opaque liquid metal, optical WGM mode, and mechanical mode into an opto-mechano-fluidic microbubble resonator (MBR) consisting of a dielectric silica shell and liquid metal core. Benefiting from the conductivity of the liquid metal, Ohmic heating was carried out for the MBR by applying current to the liquid metal to change the temperature of the MBR by more than 300 °C. The optical mode was thermally tuned (>3 nm) over a full free spectral range because the Ohmic heating changed the refractive index of the silica and dimeter of the MBR. The mechanical mode was thermally tuned with a relative tuning range of 9% because the Ohmic heating changed the velocity and density of the liquid metal.

High quality factor (Q) whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonators have been widely applied in photonics, while the excitation and collection of WGMs are mostly restricted to traveling wave coupler. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a novel on-chip perpendicular coupler (PC) for high-Q (∼1.1 × 105) silicon whispering gallery microresonators. The PC is compact and allows efficiently tunneling coupling between the waveguide and the microresonator, hence it holds great potential for fan-out photonic devices. Drastically different from the traveling wave couplers, standing wave mode can be excited through the PC. In addition, a PC working as an output coupler can also selectively collect the resonance of different wavelengths by locating on different azimuth angles. Our results show the feasibility of such novel coupler for WGM resonators and its potential use in future applications of integrated high Q microresonators.

A method to generate the optical vortex beam with arbitrary superposition of different orders of orbital angular momentum (OAM) on a photonic chip is proposed. The distributed Fourier holographic gratings are proposed to convert the propagating wave in waveguides to a vortex beam in the free space, and the components of different OAMs can be controlled by the amplitude and phases of on-chip incident light based on the principle of Fourier transformation. As an example, we studied a typical device composed of nine Fourier holographic gratings on fan-shaped waveguides. By scalar diffraction calculation, the OAM of the optical beam from the reconfigurable vortex beam generator can be controlled on-demand from -2nd to 2nd by adjusting the phase of input light fields, which is demonstrated numerically with the fidelity of generated optical vortex beam above 0.69. The working bandwidth of the Fourier holographic grating is about 80 nm with a fidelity above 0.6. Our work provides an feasible method to manipulate the vortex beam or detect arbitrary superposition of OAMs, which can be used in integrated photonics structures for optical trapping, signal processing, and imaging., 5 pages, 3 figures, 1 table

Nonlinear optical effects in integrated microcavities have been studied extensively with the advantages of strong light-matter interaction, great scalability, and stability due to the small mode volume. However, the pump lasers stimulating nonlinear effects impose obstacles for practical applications, since the material absorption causes thermal resonance drift and instability. Here we experimentally demonstrate an all-optical control of the thermal behavior in optical microcavities for tunable doubly-resonant second-harmonic (SH) generation on an integrated photonic chip. Through an auxiliary control laser, the temperature of a selected microring can be efficiently changed, thus allowing precise frequency tuning of the doubly-resonant wavelength while eliminating the distortion of the lineshape induced by the thermo-optic effect. Although the phase-matching conditions will limit the tuning range of 55GHz, the technique is still potential to achieve a larger tuning range in combination with temperature regulation. Additionally, this approach has the advantage of quick reconfiguration, showing a fast modulation rate up to about 256 kHz. The theoretical model behind our experimental scheme is universal and applicable to other microcavity-enhanced nonlinear optical processes, and our work paves the way for controlling and utilizing the thermal effect in the applications of microcavities.

Third-harmonic generation can be realized via both χ

In optical microresonators, stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) competes with four-wave mixing process and impact Kerr comb generation. Here, we demonstrate Raman frequency combs in poly-crystalline aluminum nitride (AlN) microring resonators. The Raman shifts at transverse-electric (TE) and transverse-magnetic (TM) polarizations are characterized from AlN straight waveguides using backscattering geometries. In poly-crystalline AlN microring resonators, the frequency matching of cavity resonances with broad Raman gain enhances the SRS and leads to Raman-assisted frequency combs. As a result, comb lines near Raman scattering regions of AlN are generated.

Integrated quantum photonic chips are promising for scalable, photonic based quantum information processing. Although on-chip quantum photon sources and single photon detectors have been demostrated separately, the full integration of these components on single chip is hindered by the background photons from the strong classical pump light. Here we design and fabricate an on-chip long-pass filter which can provide 70 dB attenuation for visible light near 775 nm with less than 3 dB insertion loss for light in the telecom C-band near 1550 nm. The adiabatic design makes this device broadband and robust against fabrication errors as well as working conditions. Combined with the previously demonstrated non-classical on-chip source based on spontaneous parametric down conversion on the same material system, this platform could enable 100 dB suppression of pump light and holds promise in realizing fully integrated quantum photonic chips where the sources, filters and detectors are monolithically integrated.

We demonstrate a convenient and simple method to determine nanofiber diameters nondestructively using a hemispherical microfiber tip probe. For a fixed-tip geometry and working wavelength, the scattering losses of nanofiber transmission induced by the tip are a function of the nanofiber diameter, while being insensitive to the alignment. Therefore, the nanofiber diameter can be estimated based on the measured nanofiber transmittance and the loss-diameter relationship that are obtained by three-dimensional numerical simulations. The method is experimentally demonstrated with a diameter measurement precision of 9.8 nm (1.5% of the measured diameter), and the results agree with those obtained by other methods. Such a nondestructive near-field probe approach offers a reliable and convenient technique for determining nanofiber diameters, with applications ranging from optical sensing to quantum optics to quantum information processing.

A tunable Raman laser in the hollow bottle-like microresonator is demonstrated. By controlling the pump laser frequency, we have demonstrated continuous Raman laser frequency tuning. We also have studied the interesting transient mode evolution with Raman gain by sweeping the pump and probe laser, and verified the thermal tuning mechanism by theoretical simulations. By mechanically stretching the resonator, we have achieved the large range frequency tuning of the Raman laser, with the tuning range of 132 GHz with the resolution about 85 MHz. The demonstrated tunable Raman laser can be used as a source for future optical applications.

We proposed a polarization rotator inspired by stimulated Raman adiabatic passage model from quantum optics, which is composed of a signal waveguide and an ancillary waveguide. The two orthogonal modes in signal waveguide and the oblique mode in ancillary waveguide form a Λ-type three-level system. By controlling the width of signal waveguide and the gap between two waveguides, adiabatic conversion between two orthogonal modes can be realized in the signal waveguide. With such adiabatic passage, polarization conversion is completed within 150 μm length, with the efficiencies over 99% for both conversions between horizontal polarization and vertical polarization. In addition, such a polarization rotator is quite robust against fabrication error, allowing a wide range of tolerances for the rotator geometric parameters. Our work is not only significative to photonic simulations of coherent quantum phenomena with engineered photonic waveguides, but also enlightens the practical applications of these phenomena in optical device designs.

In this paper, we report the mechanical tuning of the optical and mechanical modes in the hollow bottle-like microresonator (BLMR). The optical modes with a quality factor of 1.55 × 108 and mechanical modes with a quality factor of 2.5 × 103 were demonstrated in such microresonators. By stretching the microresonator, the optical modes can be tuned over one free spectral range, as large as 917 GHz (~ 7.3 nm). Meanwhile, the range of frequency tuning of mechanical modes can be as large as 1 MHz, which is about 2.9% of the mode frequency. This effective approach to tune the optomechanical cavity can be used for the tunable photon-phonon conversion and the synchronization of mechanical oscillators in separated optomechanical systems.

We propose and realize a novel packaged microsphere-taper coupling structure (PMTCS) with a high quality factor (Q) up to 5×10(6) by using the low refractive index (RI) ultraviolet (UV) glue as the coating material. The optical loss of the PMTCS is analyzed experimentally and theoretically, which indicate that the Q is limited by the glue absorption and the radiation loss. Moreover, to verify the practicability of the PMTCS, thermal sensing experiments are carried out, showing the excellent convenience and anti-jamming ability of the PMTCS with a high temperature resolution of 1.1×10(-3) ◦C. The experiments also demonstrate that the PMTCS holds predominant advantages, such as the robustness, mobility, isolation, and the PMTCS can maintain the high Q for a long time. The above advantages make the PMTCS strikingly attractive and potential in the fiber-integrated sensors and laser.

A transient and high sensitivity sensor based on high-Q microcavity is proposed and studied theoretically. There are two ways to realize the transient sensor: monitor the spectrum by fast scanning of probe laser frequency or monitor the transmitted light with fixed laser frequency. For both methods, the non-equilibrium response not only tells the ultrafast environment variance, but also enable higher sensitivity. As examples of application, the transient sensor for nanoparticles adhering and passing by the microcavity is studied. It's demonstrated that the transient sensor can sense coupling region, external linear variation together with the speed and the size of a nanoparticle. We believe that our researches will open a door to the fast dynamic sensing by microcavity., 9 pages, 5 figures

We put forward a route-asymmetrical optical transmission scheme employing optical gradient force, which means that forward and backward propagation of an optical device have different transmittance provided they are not present simultaneously. The device is based on optical gradient force between two single-mode waveguides followed by a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. Our numerical investigation shows that the forward transmittance is about -6 dB while the backward transmittance is suppressed below -20.5 dB in C + L bands. The proposed device is passive, wideband, and compatible with complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process. Furthermore, we demonstrate the applications of route-asymmetrical transmission such as an all-optical switch and all-optical AND gate for all-optical information processing.

In this paper, surface plasmon polariton (SPP) modes on silver nanowire (AgNW), with different field symmetric, are studied by different near field methods, respectively. In the experiment, the excitation and detection of SPPs are performed by two probes of near field scanning optical microscope (NSOM) simultaneously, which realizes the study of SPPs in complete near field. By controlling the experimental conditions, two of the fundamental SPP modes are detected separately and their intensity distributions on AgNW are given by the NSOM images. In the discussion, creeping wave (CW) is introduced to analyze the experimental results, which improves the coincidence of the experimental results and the theoretical calculations. A detailed characterization of SPPs modes in near field, which gives a further insight into optical properties of AgNW, will benefit integrated optical circuits.

Inefficient coupling between dielectric guided mode and plasmon mode has been overlooked in the past. The mechanism in it is essentially different from the conventional coupling between dielectric modes. Based on qualitative theoretical analysis, we proposed two methods to strengthen the coupling between dielectric waveguide modes and exterior plasmon whispering gallery modes. One is using a U-shaped bent waveguide to break the adiabatic mode conversion process, and the other is to render the dielectric mode of higher-order to reach phase matching with plasmon mode. Both the transmission spectrum of waveguide and the energy spectrum of cavity demonstrate that the coupling efficiencies can be greatly improved. These simple configurations are potential for wide applications, for example, tunable integrated optical devices, nanolasers and sensors.

In this paper, we developed an efficient method for searching the resonant eigenfrequency of dielectric optical microcavities by the boundary element method. By transforming the boundary integral equation to a general eigenvalue problem for arbitrary, symmetric, and multi-domain shaped optical microcavities, we analyzed the regular motion of the eigenvalues against the frequency. The new strategy can predict multiple resonances, increase the speed of convergence, and avoid non-physical spurious solutions. These advantages greatly reduce the computation time in the search process of the resonances. Moreover, this method is not only valuable for dielectric microcavities, but is also suitable for other photonic systems with dissipations, whose resonant eigenfrequencies are complex numbers.