Controlled manipulation of mode splitting in an optical microcavity by two Rayleigh scatterers.

We report controlled manipulation of mode splitting in an optical microresonator coupled to two nanoprobes. It is demonstrated that, by controlling the positions of the nanoprobes, the split modes can be tuned simultaneously or individually and experience crossing or anti-crossing in frequency and linewidth. A tunable transition between standing wave mode and travelling wave mode is also observed. Underlying physics is discussed by developing a two-scatterer model which can be extended to multiple sscatterers. Observed rich dynamics and tunability of split modes in a single microresonator will find immediate applications in optical sensing, opto-mechanics, filters and will provide a platform to study strong light-matter interactions in two-mode cavities.

[1]  Lan Yang,et al.  On-chip single nanoparticle detection and sizing by mode splitting in an ultrahigh- Q microresonator , 2010 .

[2]  K. Vahala,et al.  Static envelope patterns in composite resonances generated by level crossing in optical toroidal microcavities. , 2008, Physical review letters.

[3]  K. Vahala.  Optical microcavities , 2003, Nature.

[4]  Andrey B. Matsko,et al.  Cavity Opto-Mechanics , 2009 .

[5]  D. Weiss,et al.  Splitting of high-Q Mie modes induced by light backscattering in silica microspheres. , 1995, Optics letters.

[6]  G. Zumofen,et al.  Controlled coupling of counterpropagating whispering-gallery modes by a single Rayleigh scatterer: a classical problem in a quantum optical light. , 2007, Physical review letters.

[7]  K. Vahala,et al.  Radiation-pressure induced mechanical oscillation of an optical microcavity , 2005, EQEC '05. European Quantum Electronics Conference, 2005..

[8]  Songky Moon,et al.  Observation of an exceptional point in a chaotic optical microcavity. , 2009, Physical review letters.

[9]  Robert G. Knollenberg,et al.  The measurement of latex particle sizes using scattering ratios in the rayleigh scattering size range , 1989 .

[10]  Kerry Vahala,et al.  Cavity opto-mechanics. , 2007, Optics express.

[11]  K. Vahala,et al.  Modal coupling in traveling-wave resonators. , 2002, Optics letters.

[12]  Wolfgang Werner Langbein,et al.  Optical resonances in microcylinders: response to perturbations for biosensing , 2008 .

[13]  S. Arnold,et al.  Whispering-gallery-mode biosensing: label-free detection down to single molecules , 2008, Nature Methods.

[14]  L. Deych,et al.  Rayleigh scattering of whispering gallery modes of microspheres due to a single dipole scatterer , 2008, 0812.4404.

[15]  S. Arnold,et al.  Single virus detection from the reactive shift of a whispering-gallery mode , 2008, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[16]  K. Vahala.  Optical microcavities : Photonic technologies , 2003 .