Single-Mode WGM Resonators Fabricated by Diamond Turning

A diamond turning process has made possible a significant advance in the art of whispering-gallery- mode (WGM) optical resonators. By use of this process, it is possible to fashion crystalline materials into WGM resonators that have ultrahigh resonance quality factors (high Q values), are compact (ranging in size from millimeters down to tens of microns), and support single electromagnetic modes.