We report here the observations of high Q (up to 7 x 107) Whispering Gallery Modes in liquid microdrops of a glycerol-water mixture and three different silicone oils, which are excited and detected using high transmission tapered fibers of sub-micron waist sizes. For measuring the real Q values, which are not thermally limited, the laser frequency is scanned fast enough such that the broadband thermal oscillations of microdrops, with frequencies from kHz to 100s of kHz, do not affect the resonance signal. The two standard measurement methods `linewidth measurement' and `cavity ring-down' are used - the first one for resonances with Q <107 and the second one for Q>~ 107. We describe our analysis to show that for the tested liquids, absorption loss plays the dominant role in deciding the maximum value of the measured intrinsic Q of the microdrops. Using the analysis we show that the measured optical Q can be used to estimate a reliable upper limit of the absorption coefficient of liquids.
The origin and elaboration of our fundamental theories like quantum theory, the theory of relativity and the quantum
field theories can be traced to the study of light and its properties. While developing these theories, several notions on the
behaviour of light have been hypothesized as well as asserted, sometimes without any direct or compelling empirical
evidence. In the context of quantum physics, there is a widespread belief that experiments on quantum correlations
establish nonlocality as an essential aspect of nature. Another unshakable belief without direct empirical support is the
absolute constancy of the speed of light relative to moving observers. In this paper, I argue that no experiment on
quantum correlations of spatially separated photons necessitates the concept of nonlocality, and that there is no direct
empirical proof of nonlocality. I also comment on the need to modify established notions on quantum light, in the
context of a clear conflict between cosmology and the zero point energy of quantum electrodynamics. Then I describe
the first experiments on the measurement of the true one-way speed light relative to a reference platform that is in inertial
motion. The results are at variance with the belief that the speed of light is independent of the velocity of the observer.
The linear mathematics of Fourier composition and decomposition of monochromatic electromagnetic fields is
supposed to have a direct realization in the physical world in the sense that we assume complete equivalence
of reality as well as of physical effects when an arbitrary electromagnetic field is substituted physically with its
Fourier components, and vice versa, in the same spatial region. In the simplest cases, two superposed light fields
at frequencies &ohgr;1 and &ohgr;2 are supposed to be identical in their physical effects to a single field at the average
frequency, amplitude modulated at half the difference frequency, in spite of the significant differences in the
experimental arrangements needed to produce the two cases. This equivalence has been questioned and recently
Lee and Roychoudhury1 cited experimental results on atomic resonance and Fabry-Perot filters to assert that
there is no such equivalence.
Considering the importance of such assertions for the foundations of physics in general, we have conducted a
detailed analysis of the issue, and have conducted tests in which amplitude modulated field at resonant frequency,
corresponding mathematically to a superposition of two monochromatic fields detuned equally away from the
resonance, is applied to Rb atomic vapor, and also passed through a Fabry-Perot cavity. We conclude from
the results of these experiments that there is complete physical equivalence, corresponding to the mathematical
equivalence. We clarify several conceptual issues that have been raised about the superposition of light in this
context.
Conference Committee Involvement (2)
The Nature of Light: What are Photons? III
3 August 2009 | San Diego, California, United States
The Nature of Light: What are photons?
26 August 2007 | San Diego, California, United States
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