Delving into the physics of an optical microcavity

In this Bachelor thesis we conducted extensive research on open optical micro cavities with different radii of curvature, analyzing their eigenmodes at varying cavity lengths. Our study focused on three key aspects relevant to the characterization of these eigenmodes. First we analyzed the quality of relevant optical tools, namely a quarter waveplate and a polarization resolved CCD. We concluded that the quarter waveplate does not convert linearly polarized light into circularly polarized light and is therefore not reliable to use in measurements. The polarization resolved CCD was found to be very accurate in all four polarization channels. Second, we studied the fundamental mode. We measured that all fundamental modes were elliptical and the waists have a stronger polarization dependence than expected. We attribute this surprisingly strong effect to the angle and polarization dependent transmission of the Distributed Bragg Reflectors. Third, we studied the N=1 and N=2 modes by...Show moreIn this Bachelor thesis we conducted extensive research on open optical micro cavities with different radii of curvature, analyzing their eigenmodes at varying cavity lengths. Our study focused on three key aspects relevant to the characterization of these eigenmodes. First we analyzed the quality of relevant optical tools, namely a quarter waveplate and a polarization resolved CCD. We concluded that the quarter waveplate does not convert linearly polarized light into circularly polarized light and is therefore not reliable to use in measurements. The polarization resolved CCD was found to be very accurate in all four polarization channels. Second, we studied the fundamental mode. We measured that all fundamental modes were elliptical and the waists have a stronger polarization dependence than expected. We attribute this surprisingly strong effect to the angle and polarization dependent transmission of the Distributed Bragg Reflectors. Third, we studied the N=1 and N=2 modes by trying to find their modal amplitudes. Via this approach we were able to produce vector fields similar to the measured data, although the widths obtained for the fundamental mode did not align with those of the higher-order modes. Despite this mismatch we still believe modal analysis is a promising approach for analysing the eigenmodes of micro cavities.Show less

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Delving into the physics of an optical microcavity