Raman gain induced mode evolution and on-demand coupling control in whispering-gallery-mode microcavities

Waveguide-coupled optical resonators have played an important role in a wide range of applications including optical communication, sensing, nonlinear optics, slow/fast light, and cavity QED. In such a system, the coupling regimes strongly affect the resonance feature in the light transmission spectra, and hence the performance and outcomes of the applications. Therefore it is crucial to control the coupling between the waveguide and the microresonator. In this work, we investigated a fiber-taper coupled whispering-gallery-mode microresonator system, in which the coupling regime is traditionally controlled by adjusting the distance between the resonator and the fiber-taper mechanically. We propose and experimentally demonstrate that by utilizing Raman gain one can achieve on-demand control of the coupling regime without any mechanical movement in the resonator system. Particularly, the application of Raman gain is accompanied by Q enhancement. We also show that with the help of Raman gain control, the transitions between various coupling regimes can affect the light transmission spectra so as to provide better resolvability and signal amplification. This all-optical approach is also suitable for monolithically integrated and packaged waveguide-resonator systems, whose coupling regime is fixed at the time of manufacturing. It provides an effective route to control the light transmission in a waveguide-couple resonator system without mechanically moving individual optical components. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America