title: Tunable resonant optical microcavities by self-assembled templating.
abstract: Micrometer-scale optical cavities are produced by a combination of template sphere self-assembly and electrochemical growth. Transmission measurements of the tunable microcavities show sharp resonant modes with Q factors of >300 and 25-fold local enhancement of light intensity. The presence of transverse optical modes confirms the lateral confinement of photons. Calculations show that submicrometer mode volumes are feasible. The small mode volumes of these microcavities promise to lead to a wide range of applications. in microlasers, atom optics, quantum information, biophotonics, and single-molecule detection.
authors.affiliation: School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Southampton, Southampton S017 1BJ, UK. prakash@phys.soton.ac.uk
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vijaya Prakash
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Besombes
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kelf
authors.forename: Jeremy J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Baumberg
authors.forename: P N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Bartlett
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Abdelsalam