Annular Bragg resonators (ABR): the ideal tool for biochemical sensing, nonlinear optics, and cavity QED

Circular resonators are fundamentally interesting elements that are essential for research involving highly confined fields and strong photon-atom interactions such as cavity QED, as well as for practical applications in optical communication systems as and biochemical sensing. The important characteristics of a ring resonator are the Q-factor, the free spectral range (FSR) and the modal volume, where the last two are primarily determined by the resonator dimensions. The Total-Internal-Reflection (TIR) mechanism employed in "conventional" resonators couples between these characteristics and limits the ability to realize compact devices with large FSR, small modal volume and high Q. Recently, we proposed and analyzed a new class of a resonator in an annular geometry that is based on a single defect surrounded by radial Bragg reflectors on both sides. The radial Bragg confinement breaks the link between the characteristics of the mode and paves a new way for the realization of compact and low loss resonators. Such properties as well as the unique mode profile of the ABRs make this class of devices an excellent tool for ultra-sensitive biochemical detection as well as for studies in nonlinear optics and cavity QED.