Low-threshold stimulated Brillouin scattering in high-Q whispering gallery mode tellurite microspheres

We demonstrate the first observation of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in a high-Q whispering gallery mode tellurite microsphere. Tellurite glass with composition of 70TeO₂-20ZnO-5Na₂O-5La₂O₃ (molar ratio) was prepared in-house using a melt-quenching technique. Moreover, tellurite microspheres with Q in excess of 13 millions at 1550 nm were fabricated by melting tellurite microwires using a CO₂ laser. By pumping the tellurite microspheres with a tunable single frequency laser, SBS is further realized with a threshold as low as 0.58 mW. At last, the beat notes between the pump and the Stokes signals were measured, which indicated the Brillouin frequency shift is at the 8.2 GHz band for our tellurite glass. Our results could propel significant applications utilizing SBS by employing tellurite microspheres.