Ultra high-Q WGM microspheres from ZBLAN for the mid-IR band
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 m. We effectively excited whispering gallery modes in these microspheres and demonstrated high quality factor both at 1.55 m and 2.64 m. Intrinsic quality factor at telecom wavelength was shown which is defined by the material losses in ZBLAN. In the mid-IR at 2.64 m we demonstrated record quality factor in ZBLAN exceeding which is comparable to the highest values of the Q-factor among all materials in the mid-IR.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2211.04857,
title = {Ultra high-Q WGM microspheres from ZBLAN for the mid-IR band},
author = {Tatiana S. Tebeneva and Artem E. Shitikov and Oleg V. Benderov and Valery E. Lobanov and Igor A. Bilenko and Alexander V. Rodin},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2211.04857},
year = {2022}
}