Whispering-Gallery-Mode Microspheres as Light Modulators

Light modulators of a proposed type would exploit the propagation of lightin "whispering-gallery" electromagnetic modes in microspheres made of electro-optical materials. These modulators would offer advantages of ultrahigh modulation efficiency and increased bandwidth, relative to their nearest competitors, which are traveling-wave electro-optical modulators. The introduction of the proposed modulators could increase the bandwidths and reduce the power demands of a variety of both free-space and guided-wave communication, sensing, and signal-processing systems that utilize radio-frequency (typically, microwave) modulation of optical carrier signals.