Universal output directionality of ultrahigh-Q single modes in a deformed microcavity with low index of refraction

Abstract

Experimental investigation of the characteristics of quasi-bound states of a quadrupole deformed microcavity has revealed five distinct mode groups in cavity emission spectra with cavity quality factors different by orders of magnitude and consistently with much different intracavity mode distributions but with almost universal far-field emission patterns. These universal directionality of high Q modes are explained by a subtle manifestation of unstable manifolds of classical chaos in the formation of quasi-bound states.