Wafer-scale arrays of high-Q silica optical microcavities

On-chip high-Q microcavities possess significant potential in terms of integration of optical microresonators into functional optoelectronic devices that could be used in various applications, including biosensors, photonicintegrated circuits, or quantum optics experiments. Yet, despite the convenience of fabricating wafer-scale integrated microresonators with moderate Q values using standard microfabrication techniques, surfacetension- induced microcavities (STIMs), which have atomic-level surface roughness enabling the observation of Q values larger than 106, could only be produced using individual thermal treatment of every single microresonator within the devised area. Here, we demonstrate a facile method for large-scale fabrication of silica STIMs of various morphologies. Q values exceeding 106 are readily obtained using this technique. This study represents a significant advancement toward fabrication of wafer-scale optoelectronic circuitries. (C) 2017 Optical Society of America