Chalcogenide Microsphere Fabricated From Fiber Tapers Using Contact With a High-Temperature Ceramic Surface
The fabrication and characterization of a chalcogenide glass microsphere resonator has been demonstrated. At wavelengths near 1550 nm, whispering gallery mode resonances can be efficiently excited in a 74-μm-diameter chalcogenide glass microsphere via evanescent coupling using a tapered silica glass fiber with a waist diameter of circa 2 μm. Resonances with Q-factors greater than 105 were observed. Due to the high nonlinearity properties of the chalcogenide material and the ease of fabrication process, chalcogenide microspheres offer the potential for robustly assembled fully integrated photonic devices.