Boosting silica micro-rod Q factor to 8.28 × 109 for fully stabilizing a soliton microcomb

Ting-Yang Pan, Teng Tan, Bing Duan, Bing Chang, Fan Tang, Yong-Jun Huang, Ying-Zhan Yan, Shan-Guo Huang (), Da-Quan Yang () and Bai-Cheng Yao ()
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Ting-Yang Pan: Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications
Teng Tan: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Bing Duan: Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications
Bing Chang: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Fan Tang: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Yong-Jun Huang: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Ying-Zhan Yan: China Electronics Technology Group Corporation
Shan-Guo Huang: Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications
Da-Quan Yang: Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications
Bai-Cheng Yao: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Optical microcavities with strong light confinement are powerful tools for significantly enhancing light-matter interactions. Currently, the actual Q factor of a microcavity remains far below the theoretical limit, as specific factors affecting losses inside microcavities are not yet fully quantified. Here, using silica whispering-gallery-mode microrod cavities, we quantitatively identify how radiation loss, scattering loss, and contaminant loss contribute to the total loss, finding that after fine fabrication, contaminant loss is the major factor limiting the total cavity Q. By employing two-step laser polishing and heat treatment, we achieve a Q factor of up to 8.28 × 109. Accordingly, we demonstrate a fully stabilized soliton microcomb system using the Q-enhanced microcavity, achieving phase noise suppression of over 45.2 dB at the pump frequency and over 60.6 dB at the repetition frequency. This work deepens the understanding of intracavity loss and may pave the way for practically improving the performance of microcavity photonics.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-63954-6

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