Polarized transmission spectra of the fiber-microsphere system

Abstract

The polarized transmission spectra of a fiber-microsphere system was investigated. Light from an optical fiber was side coupled into the dielectric microsphere through optical tunneling. It was found that the polarization of some of the light coupled into the microsphere and back into the fiber changed by 90°. The experiments showed a level of high signal-to-noise ratio peaks at the resonant frequencies in the polarized spectra and the possibility of discriminating between TE and TM modes of the microsphere. © 2005 American Institute of Physics.