Ultimate quality factor of silica microtoroid resonant cavities

Silica optical microcavities with quality (Q factors above 1×108 have applications throughout science and engineering. While both the microtoroid and microsphere resonant cavity have demonstrated Q>1×108, only the microsphere has surpassed 1×109. Surprisingly, the reason for this performance disparity is directly related to type of silicon substrate used in the fabrication process. In the present work, the theoretical Q of planar toroidal silica resonant cavities is calculated and compared to experimental results from a series of devices fabricated from oxide on doped silicon wafers. As predicted, the Q depends on the substrate dopant concentration.

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