Excitation of Morphology Dependent Resonances of Microspherical Cavities
using Optical Fibers.
G. Griffel, S. Arnold, D. Taskent, A.Serpengüzel, John Connolly, and Nancy Morris
Optics and Photonics News, December, 1995, p.21

Optical Cavities are used extensively to enhance processes that depend on the interaction between light and matter due to their strong frequency selectivity and sharp dispersion near resonance. Most of the cavities that are used in optics have relatively large dimensions and modest Qs (<10,000). A new type of optical resonator, which has been the focus of increased attention this year as a possible photonic device, is the spherical dielectric microparticle (SDM). This tiny cavity, with a diameter of a few microns to several hundred microns has resonances with reported Qs approaching 1x109. The combination of high-Q resonances in a very small volume offers new possibilities for photonic devices.