Claims
- 1. A method of coupling between a waveguide mode and a whispering gallery mode, comprising:forming a portion of a waveguide element, which operates in a waveguide mode, said portion having a part that induces total internal reflection which causes an evanescent field to be formed in an area of said waveguide and such that radiation in said waveguide mode forms said evanescent field at said area; and placing a resonator, which operates in a whispering gallery mode, in said area of said evanescent field.
- 2. A method as in claim 1 further comprising placing another waveguide adjacent said resonator, to couple said radiation between said wave guide element and said another waveguide.
- 3. A method as in claim 2 wherein each of said waveguides and said resonator are fabricated on a surface of a chip.
- 4. A method as in claim 3 further comprising holding the resonator in a way such that a specified portion of the resonator is at a specified location relative to said waveguide.
- 5. A method as in claim 4 wherein said resonator is a microsphere in said specified location.
- 6. A method as in claim 3 wherein said chip comprises a first waveguide portion on a first chip, a second waveguide portion on a second chip, and a resonator holding portion disposed between said first and second chips.
- 7. A method as in claim 3 wherein both said first and second waveguides are on the same chip.
- 8. A method as in claim 2 further comprising using said resonator in said area of said evanescent field as a filter.
- 9. A method as in claim 2 wherein said part that induces total internal reflection includes a corner reflector.
- 10. A method as in claim 2 wherein said part that induces total internal reflection which includes an angled end portion of the waveguide.
- 11. A method as in claim 2 wherein said part that induces total internal reflection includes a mirror.
- 12. A method as in claim 1 wherein said resonator is a microsphere resonator.
- 13. A method as in claim 12 further comprising matching a position of the microsphere resonator to an area of the evanescent field.
- 14. A method as in claim 1, wherein said resonator is a resonator which is resonant in said whispering gallery mode.
- 15. A method of coupling between a waveguide mode and a whispering gallery mode, comprising:forming a portion of a waveguide element which is a single mode fiber, which operates in a waveguide mode, said portion which causes an evanescent field to be formed in an area of said waveguide and such that radiation in said waveguide mode forms said evanescent field at said area; and placing a resonator, which operates in a whispering gallery mode, in said area of said evanescent field.
- 16. A method as in claim 15 wherein said single mode fiber has an end which cleaved to a specified angle which causes total internal reflection to form said evanescent field.
- 17. A method as in claim 16 wherein said specified angle secures a phase matching requirement.
- 18. A method as in claim 17 wherein said phase matching requirement forms an angle Φ=arc sin nsphere/nfiber where nfiber is a refractive refraction index that describes guided wave and fiber trunk core truncation area, and nsphere is an effective refraction index of the azimuthal propagation of the waveguide modes.
- 19. A method as in claim 15 further comprising another fiber near said resonator to enable coupling from said fiber to said another fiber.
- 20. A method of coupling information to a resonator, comprising:forming a surface grating on the resonator; and phase matching optical energy to said surface grating to induce said optical energy to enter said resonator.
- 21. A method as in claim 20 further comprising forming said grating by obtaining a resonator, forming a photosensitive layer on said resonator, and using a light source to form a grating on an outside of said resonator.
- 22. A method as in claim 21 wherein said forming a photosensitive layer comprises melting germanium oxide doped glass powder and forming said powder on the outside of the resonator.
- 23. A method as in claim 22 wherein said forming a grating comprises using a ultraviolet light from a laser to form said grating.
- 24. A method as in claim 20 further comprising a collimating lens, coupling said optical energy towards said grating.
- 25. A method of coupling light from an optical fiber into a whispering gallery type resonator, comprising:transmitting light through a core of the optical fiber; forming a cleave on the optical fiber at a specified angle which causes total internal reflection and which forms an evanescent field outside the fiber; and locating said resonator in the location of said evanescent field to come into contact with the evanescent field.
- 26. A method of coupling energy, comprising:coupling light in a waveguide mode to an ending part that causes said light to produce an evanescent field; and locating a device which has a resonant whispering gallery mode, in the location of said evanescent field to come in contact with the evanescent field and to induce energy in said whispering gallery node based on said evanescent field.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims benefit of U.S. Provisional application No. 60/119,435, filed Feb. 10, 1999 and application Ser. No. 60/123,696 filed Mar. 8, 1999.
STATEMENT AS TO FEDERALLY-SPONSORED RESEARCH
The invention described herein was made in the performance of work under a NASA contract, and is subject to the provisions of Public Law 96-517 (U.S.C. 202) in which the Contractor has elected to retain title.
US Referenced Citations (6)
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
WO 9804920 |
Feb 1998 |
WO |
WO 0044074 |
Jul 2000 |
WO |
Non-Patent Literature Citations (3)
Entry |
Ilchenko et al., “Pigtailing the high-Q microsphere cavity: a simple fiber coupler for optical whispering-gallery modes,” Optics Letters, vol. 24, No. 11, pp. 723-725, Jun. 1, 1999. |
Ilchenko et al., “Microsphere integration in active and passive photonics devices,” Proceedings of SPIE, vol. 3930, pp. 154-162, 2000. |
Gorodetsky et al., “Optical microsphere resonators: optimal coupling to high-Q whispering-gallery modes,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. B, vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 147-154, Jan. 1999. |
Provisional Applications (2)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60/119435 |
Feb 1999 |
US |
|
60/123696 |
Mar 1999 |
US |