Whispering Gallery Mode Resonators for Quantum and Nonlinear Optics

Ivan Grudinin
California Institute of Technology

Monday, March 1, 2010 at 2:00pm
Engr IV Faraday Room 67-124

Abstract
In whispering gallery modes (WGMs) of optical resonators a combination of a very small mode volume (~103 ?3) with a high optical Q factor (~109) leads to build-up of optical energy and enhancement of numerous nonlinear optical processes. As new crystalline resonator geometries were developed, efficient Raman and Brillouin lasing were demonstrated with optical pump thresholds in the microwatt range. Generation of optical combs and possibility for single ion spectroscopy are discussed. Tunable phonon generation via optomechanical coupling in a system of two silica microtoroids is demonstrated.

Biography
Ivan Grudinin was born in Moscow, Russia in 1980. He received his M.S. in Physics from M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University. While in the Molecular Physics and Quantum Measurement group, he studied thermal noise in silica using whispering gallery mode resonators (WGMRs). After a brief work with Caltech's Thermal Noise Interferometer project (LIGO) in 2003, he joined the Quantum Science and Technology group at JPL where he studied nonlinear optical phenomena with crystalline WGMRs. He completed his Ph.D. in Physics at Caltech in 2008. As a postdoctoral fellow in Applied Physics department of Caltech, he studies nonlinear and optomechanical processes in silica microtoroid resonators.