Perturbative analysis of optical microdisk cavities with boundary deformation

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Jan Wiersig
• Subject Area: Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
• Term: from 2015 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 282484332

In the recent decade, the study of optical microcavities has become an important subject of research in physics. Most prominent are whispering-gallery cavities, e.g. microdisk cavities, where light is confined on a micrometer scale by total internal reflection at the boundary of the cavity. Deforming the boundary of such cavities has led to a variety of applications and interesting physics. In this project, we are going to employ a perturbation theory to analyze several important aspects of deformed microdisk cavities. We will introduce and study the inverse problem where the far-field emission pattern is given and the corresponding cavity deformation has to be determined. Moreover, we will use the perturbation theory to derive handy formulas for frequency splitting and Q-spoiling. We plan to study the effect of mode coupling on decay rates and relate the perturbation theory to the theory of resonance-assisted tunneling in nearly-integrable quantum systems. Finally, we will use the perturbation theory to analyze the effects of surface roughness.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants