Welcome to the Microphotonics Research Group
The Microphotonics Research group is funded by the Max Planck Society and located at the MPL.
The main research focus of our group is integrated microphotonic devices and nonlinear optics in whispering gallery mode microresonators. These resonators are tiny rings with diameters like the size of a human hair that can store light for up to one million roundtrips. The long photon storage times in these resonators allow us to “charge” these devices with circulating optical powers of up to a megawatt, which enables studies of a large variety of nonlinear optical effects.
Research overview
In integrated optical circuits our optical microresonators can convert a single wavelength laser into an optical frequency comb, which is a light source consisting of many equidistantly spaced optical frequencies. These devices can be used as optical rulers with applications ranging from distance measurements to precision spectroscopy and channel generation in telecommunication networks.
An additional research area of our group is the study of the interaction of counterpropagating light in ring resonators. The nonlinear optical coupling of counterpropagating light leads to a spontaneous symmetry breaking that allows light circulation only in one direction, either clockwise or counterclockwise. This effect can be used to realize chip-integrated optical diodes, gyroscopes, and photonic switches.
Please find more information on our website: microphotonics.net
Contact
Research Group Pascal Del'Haye
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light
Staudtstr. 2
91058 Erlangen, Germany
+49 9131 7133 137
Research team leader Dr. Pascal Del'Haye
You can find the scientific curriculum vitae of Pascal Del'Haye here .
