Miniature Optoelectronic Oscillators Based on Microspheres

The figure depicts an example of a proposed type of optoelectronic oscillator (OEO) based on some of the same principles as those described in the preceding article. In the proposed OEOs as in the OEOs of the preceding article, transparent (e.g., glass) microspheres that exhibit "whispering-gallery" electromagnetic modes at the laser wavelengths of the oscillators would be utilized as high-Q (where Q is the resonance quality factor and is the measure of energy storage time) resonator/delay elements in the oscillator feedback loops.