On-Chip Fabrication of Glass Sphere Laser

Abstract

Fabrication and application of glass spherical micro-cavity for lasing are reported. Surface-tension molding (StM) and localized-laser heating (LLH) techniques have been developed to fabricate glass super sphere, which is partially truncated spherical shape, and true spheres, respectively. Whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonances or laser oscillations from the spherical glasses were demonstrated. Super-spherical glasses possessed WGM resonances on its equatorial plane. The equatorial plane with high roundness (>0.99) serves a high quality factor to lead laser oscillation. LLH technique enables us to fabricate true spheres on a transparent substrate. Tellurite glass spheres prepared by the LLH technique showed laser oscillation with few-mW-order thresholds by direct pumping. StM and LLH technique are very suitable for both preparation and utilization of glass spheres for optical micro-cavity.