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Updated: May 2, 2026
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Fabrication of Silica Ultra High Quality Factor Microresonators
Published on: July 2, 2012
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Boosting silica micro-rod Q factor to 8.28 × 109 for fully stabilizing a soliton microcomb
Ting-Yang Pan1,2, Teng Tan3,4, Bing Duan1,2
1State Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optical Communications, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, China.
Nature Communications
|October 6, 2025
Summary
Researchers identified contaminant loss as the main factor limiting microcavity Q factor. Using advanced polishing and heat treatment, they achieved a Q factor of 8.28 × 109, enhancing soliton microcombs.
Area of Science:
- Photonics
- Optical Engineering
- Materials Science
Background:
- Optical microcavities enhance light-matter interactions.
- Actual microcavity Q factors are limited by unquantified internal losses.
Purpose of the Study:
- Quantitatively identify loss contributions in silica whispering-gallery-mode microrod cavities.
- Improve microcavity Q factor for advanced photonic applications.
Main Methods:
- Utilized silica whispering-gallery-mode microrod cavities.
- Quantified radiation, scattering, and contaminant losses.
- Employed two-step laser polishing and heat treatment.
Main Results:
- Contaminant loss identified as the primary limitation on microcavity Q factor after fabrication.
- Achieved a high Q factor of up to 8.28 × 109.
- Demonstrated a stabilized soliton microcomb with significant phase noise suppression.
Conclusions:
- Intracavity loss mechanisms are better understood.
- Advanced fabrication techniques can significantly boost microcavity performance.
- High-Q microcavities are crucial for practical photonic systems like soliton microcombs.
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