TeraHz tuning of whispering gallery modes in a PDMS, stand-alone, stretchable microsphere

Abstract

We report on tuning the optical whispering gallery modes in a poly dimethyl siloxane-based (PDMS) microsphere resonator by more than a THz. The PDMS microsphere system consists of a solid spherical resonator directly formed with double stems on either side. The stems act like tie-rods for simple mechanical stretching of the microresonator over tens of microns, resulting in tuning of the whispering gallery modes by one free spectral range. Further investigations demonstrate that the whispering gallery mode shift has a higher sensitivity (0.13 nm/{\mu}N) to an applied force when the resonator is in its maximally stretched state compared to its relaxed state.