Quasi-distributed and wavelength selective addressing of optical micro-resonators based on long period fiber gratings

A novel all-in-fiber method for coupling light to high-Q silica whispering gallery mode (WGM) optical micro-resonators is presented, which is based on a pair of long period fiber gratings (LPGs) written in the same silica fiber, along with a thick fiber taper (15-18 mu m in waist) in between the LPGs. The proposed coupling structure is robust and can be replicated many times along the same fiber simply cascading LPGs with different bands. Typical Q-factors of the order of 108 and total coupling efficiency up to 60% were measured collecting the resonances of microspheres or microbubbles at the fiber end. This approach uniquely allows quasi-distributed and wavelength selective addressing of different micro-resonators along the same fiber. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America