Precise Diameter Measurement of a Microsphere Based on Polarization Analysis of Whispering Gallery Mode Resonance
Whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonance is used for the diameter measuring method of a microsphere smaller than φ 1 mm. It is aimed to achieve measurement accuracy better than 10 nm. There are two electromagnetic modes for WGMs, and then mis-detection of the electromagnetic mode expands measurement errors more than 100 nm, so it is indispensably to distinguish the electromagnetic mode. As theoretical simulation implies, polarization mode of WGMs can be selectively excited by controlling polarization of the incident light in optical coupling. Based on the analysis, it was proofed experimentally that the polarization of WGMs could be classified. As a result, the diameter measurement for a microsphere was performed with measurement error of ± 1 nm.