Sol–Gel-Derived Spheres for Spherical Microcavity

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Abstract
Encapsulation of light to small spheres ensures the highest quality factor ( Q factor) to enhance the interaction between light and materials. In this Account, we describe the fabrication of micrometer-sized spherical particles of organic-inorganic hybrid materials to study the potential ability as a spherical cavity laser. The spherical particles prepared by the vibrating orifice technique included those of nondoped and doped with organic dyes and rare-earth-metal ions, and some of them were cladded with low-index-coating hybrid materials. Coating of the spheres was carried out by aiming at practical applications: high refractive index spheres from n D = 1.72 to 2.5 prepared by the technique and glass spheres of n D = 1.93. They were pumped by second harmonic pulses of a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser (532 nm wavelength) and CW Ar (+) laser (514 nm wavelength) to investigate as spherical cavity microlasers. The emission from spheres originated from the photoluminescence of dopants and Raman scattering of matrix materials. Lasing or resonant light emission from these spheres were performed by the direct-laser-light-pumping and the light-coupling techniques using an optical waveguide coupler.