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arXiv · 2211.04857

Ultra high-Q WGM microspheres from ZBLAN for the mid-IR band

Tatiana S. Tebeneva·Artem E. Shitikov·Oleg V. Benderov·Valery E. Lobanov·Igor A. Bilenko·Alexander V. Rodin
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Abstract

The advantages of high-quality-factor whispering gallery mode microresonators can be applied to develop novel photonic devices for the mid-IR range. ZBLAN (glass based on heavy metal fluorides) is one of the most promising materials to be used for this purpose due to low optical losses in the mid-IR. We developed original fabrication method based on melting of commercially available ZBLAN-based optical fiber to produce high-Q ZBLAN microspheres with the diameters of 250 to 350 $μ$m. We effectively excited whispering gallery modes in these microspheres and demonstrated high quality factor both at 1.55 $μ$m and 2.64 $μ$m. Intrinsic quality factor at telecom wavelength was shown $(5.4\pm0.4)\cdot10^8$ which is defined by the material losses in ZBLAN. In the mid-IR at 2.64 $μ$m we demonstrated record quality factor in ZBLAN exceeding $10^8$ which is comparable to the highest values of the Q-factor among all materials in the mid-IR.

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Tatiana S. Tebeneva, Artem E. Shitikov, Oleg V. Benderov, Valery E. Lobanov, Igor A. Bilenko, Alexander V. Rodin. 2022-11-09. Ultra high-Q WGM microspheres from ZBLAN for the mid-IR band. https://doi.org/10.1364/ol.475259

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