Output details
13 - Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Metallurgy and Materials
University of Southampton
Manipulating spheres that sink: assembly of micrometer sized glass spheres for optical coupling
Significance of output:
This paper describes chemical self-assembly of glass microspheres in sparse wells on planar surfaces using chemically bifunctional surfaces. A detailed theoretical model of self-assembly and experimental optimisation of the technique are described, arriving at a repeatable and clean process for hybrid photonic circuit construction. This technique allows controlled positioning of microsphere resonators in photonic integrated circuits to add optical functionality, such as lasing, amplification or switching, to an uncommitted circuit layout. This, with companion papers on optical performance, led to an invited paper at the European Conference on Integrated Optics in 2010.
