Spheroids as optical resonators

Dielectric Spheres

Shown here is a prototype of an assembly of dielectric spheroids. Admittedly, there are still some issues with mechanical stability, and the functionality (if there is any) has not been studied in detail.

Optics with microspheres and spheroids

Spheroids as optical resonators have a long history with significant recent progress. To find out more, have a look at the following topics:

• Light-emitting liquid microdroplets
• Nearly spherical silica resonators

Introductory material: what's so special about round resonators?

Circularly symmetric cavities support whisepring-galery modes. See the following pages for some background information.

• Bessel functions in closed circular resonators
• The fields radiated by circular dielectric resonators

This page © Copyright Jens Uwe Nöckel, 10/2004

Last modified: Mon Oct 1 14:18:22 PDT 2012