Sideband spectroscopy and dispersion measurement in microcavities

The measurement of dispersion and its control have become important considerations in nonlinear devices based on microcavities. A sideband technique is applied here to accurately measure dispersion in a microcavity resulting from both geometrical and material contributions. Moreover, by combining the method with finite element simulations, we show that mapping of spectral lines to their corresponding transverse mode families is possible. The method is applicable for high-Q, micro-cavities having microwave rate free spectral range and has a relative precision of 5.5 x 10(-6) for a 2 mm disk cavity with FSR of 32.9382 GHz and Q of 150 milllion. (C) 2012 Optical Society of America