Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 1, 2026
12:21
Stimulated Stokes and Antistokes Raman Scattering in Microspherical Whispering Gallery Mode Resonators
Published on: April 4, 2016
Hybrid microspheres for nonlinear Kerr switching devices
Ilya Razdolskiy1, Simone Berneschi, Gualtiero Nunzi Conti
1Department of Physics, Moscow State University, Moscow 119899, Russia.
Optics Express
|June 7, 2011
Summary
Researchers used the electronic Kerr effect in a polyfluorene derivative to switch near-infrared light in a hybrid microsphere resonator. This non-linear optical switching achieved significant resonance shifts, confirming the Kerr effect over thermal effects.
Area of Science:
- Non-linear optics
- Materials science
- Photonics
Background:
- Hybrid polymer-silica microspheres support Whispering Gallery Mode (WGM) resonances.
- Polyfluorene derivatives exhibit electro-optical properties suitable for optical switching.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the use of the electronic Kerr effect for non-linear switching of WGM resonances.
- To demonstrate reversible optical switching in a hybrid polymer-silica microsphere resonator.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing the electronic Kerr effect in a polyfluorene derivative.
- Employing a near-infrared (NIR) probe beam coupled to a hybrid microspherical resonator.
- Pumping the system with a 780 nm pulsed laser and comparing with continuous wave (CW) regime.
Main Results:
- Achieved reversible non-linear switching of WGM resonances.
- Observed resonance shifts up to 2 GHz with pulsed laser pumping (50 mW average power).
- Demonstrated significantly larger shifts compared to CW pumping (250 MHz at 50 mW).
Conclusions:
- The observed resonance shifts confirm the electronic Kerr effect as the dominant switching mechanism.
- Ruled out thermo-optical effects due to the magnitude of the shift and absence of temporal drift.
- Highlights the potential of polyfluorene derivatives in hybrid resonators for non-linear optical applications.
