Size stabilization of surface-supported liquid aerosols using tapered optical fiber coupling

Abstract

We demonstrate long-term size stabilization of surface-supported liquid aerosols of salt-water. Single tapered optical fibers were used to couple the light from independent heating and probe lasers into individual microdroplets that were kept on a superhydrophobic surface in a high-humidity chamber. Size stabilization of microdroplets resulted from competition between resonant absorption of the infrared heating laser by a microdroplet whispering gallery mode and water condensation in the sample chamber. Microdroplet size was continuously monitored using the tunable red probe laser. Thanks to the narrow linewidth of the heating laser, stabilization of the 110 mu m radius of a microdroplet with a precision down to 0.54 nm was achieved for a period of 410 s.