Optofluidic microbubble Fabry-Pérot cavity.

An optofluidic microbubble Fabry-Pérot (OMBFP) cavity was investigated. In contrast to plane-plane FP (PPFP) cavities, the optical mode confinement and stability in an OMBFP were significantly enhanced. The optical properties of the OMBFP cavity, including the quality (Q) factor, effective mode area, mode distribution as a function of the core refractive index, microbubble position, and mirror tilt angle, were investigated systematically using the finite element method. In optofluidic lasing experiments, a low lasing threshold of 1.25 µJ/mm2, which was one order magnitude lower than that of the PPFP, was achieved owing to improved modal lateral confinement. Since the microbubble acts as a micro-lens and microfluidic channel in the parallel FP cavity, mode selection and cell-dye laser were easily realized in the OMBFP cavity.