Fine structure of coupled optical modes in photonic molecules

Abstract

We report on the coherent coupling of whispering gallery modes (WGM) in a photonic molecule formed from two melamine-formaldehyde spherical microcavities with a thin shell of CdTe nanocrystals. Utilizing a microporous polymer structure to orient the photonic molecule, we have excited the photonic molecule both on and off axis. This controllable geometry has allowed the observation of an off-axis fine structure that consists of very sharp peaks resulting from the removal of the WGM degeneracy with respect to the azimuthal quantum number $m$. The mode splittings are in very good agreement with theory.