Metamorphoses of Light in a Revolving Microsystem

Abstract

Photonic mode behaviors are theoretically investigated for rotating and revolving microsystems (microdisks). The present calculation clarifies the extraordinary behaviors of photonic modes, which are induced by the rotating motion of the microdisk. First, whispering gallery modes with twofold degeneracy in the microdisk at rest split off due to the onset of rotation. This rotation also excites a number of extra modes that are interpreted as being generated as those circulating in the direction opposite to the microdisk rotation. These modes reveal anticrossing and merging-regeneration phenomena in the dispersion curves of photon frequency as the rotation speed increases. The light intensity distributions in the microdisk exhibit a variety of metamorphoses according to the variations of rotation center position as well as rotation speed. All of these phenomena can be explained as being caused by the coupling of photonic modes to the rotating motion of the microdisk and the resultant coupling between different photonic states.