Optical microcavity characterization via resonance spectra and modes

Abstract

This paper describes how resonance spectra and mode profiles can be used to characterize and quantify the mode-shaping effects in open-access plano-concave optical microcavities. The presented semi-analytic theory is based on the application of perturbation theory to the roundtrip evolution of the optical field. It includes various mirror-shape and nonparaxial effects and extends the nonparaxial theory presented by van Exter et al. (2022, Phys. Rev. A 106, 013501) and verified by Koks et al. (2022, Phys. Rev. A 105, 063502) to the common case of an anisotropic Gaussian mirror. The presented measurements and analyses of resonance spectra and mode profiles demonstrate how the different mode-shaping effects can be individually distinguished and quantified. Spin-orbit coupling, which is one of the nonparaxial effects, is prominently visible in the intriguing polarization patterns of the resonant modes, while polarization tomography yields the shape-induced birefringence and associated polarization splitting of the fundamental modes.