Microphotonics applications of silicon microspheres

Abstract

Silicon microspheres with high quality factor morphology dependent resonances (MDRs), or whispering gallery modes (WGMs), are used for resonant detection and filtering in the near-Infrared. The near-infrared light is coupled to the silicon microsphere with optical fiber half couplers. The observed morphology dependent resonances have quality factors of 100000. The experimentally measured quality factors are limited by the sensitivity of the experimental setup. These optical resonances provide the necessary narrow linewidths that are needed for high resolution optical filtering, Raman lasers, modulators, complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) compatible detectors in the near-infrared. The silicon microsphere shows promise as a building block for silicon microphotonics, a complementary technology to the already well established CMOS based microelectronics technology for the realization of future microelectrophotonic integration.