https://doi.org/10.1007/s100530050087
Evidence for intrinsic Kerr bistability of high-Q microsphere resonators in superfluid helium
1
Laboratoire Kastler Brossel,
Département de Physique de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure,
24 Rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
2
Department of Physics,
Moscow State University, Moscow 119899, Russia
Corresponding author: a valerie.lefevre@physique.ens.fr
Received:
16
December
1997
Accepted:
14
January
1998
Published online: 15 March 1998
Quality factors up to 109 have been obtained in the whispering gallery modes (WGMs) of fused silica microspheres immersed in a superfluid helium bath. We have observed a dispersive bistable behaviour of the WGM resonances with a threshold power of 10 μW, due to the intrinsic Kerr nonlinearity of silica. These results open the way to the realization of a thresholdless microlaser and other cavity QED projects with microspheres.
PACS: 42.50.-p – Quantum optics / 42.55.Sa – Microcavity and microdisk lasers / 42.65.-k – Nonlinear optics
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 1998
