Integrated Photonic Cavities with High Quality Factors in the Mid-Infrared

The mid-infrared wavelength range of the electromagnetic spectrum is attracting a lot of interest due to its high potential for sensing applications, for example breath analysis in health care or air quality monitoring for environmental applications. However, currently the devices for the generation of these wavelengths are expensive and bulky, confining their use to research laboratories. Away to overcome this it to utilize the photonic integration circuit technology to shrink down the devices to the size of a finger nail. There are several components necessary to realize such an on-chip integrated sensing system. One key component is a cavity, which traps light on-chip. It can be used to build a mid-infrared light source as well as to enhance the sensitivity of the system. Based on this interest, the goal of the thesis is to develop such cavities of very high quality in the mid-infrared. The quality of howwell the light is trapped is expressed by the quality factor. Hence, we want to obtain the first on-chip integrated cavity with a high quality factor and working over a wide wavelength range in the mid-infrared.<p></p>