Abstract

Realization of QED cavity enhanced effects in practical devices has, until recently, been impeded by fabrication difficulties in forming high Q Fabry-Perot geometries with dimensions on the order of the wavelength of light. Spherical cavities, which are formed naturally at the liquid/air interface of microdroplets¹, are an attractive alternative both because of ease of generation and the achievable² high cavity Q’s (10⁷). Theoretical³ work at NRL on fluorescing dye solution droplets has led to the prediction of cavity-enhanced spontaneous emission rates of over 1500 times at resonances having Q’s of only 10⁴ t0 10⁵.

© 1990 Optical Society of America