Silica and water are known as exceptionally inert chemical materials whose interaction is not completely understood. Here we show that the effect of this interaction can be significantly enhanced by optical whispering gallery modes (WGMs) propagating in a silica microcapillary filled with water. Our experiments demonstrate that WGMs, which evanescently heat liquid water over several hours, induce permanent alterations in silica material characterized by the subnanometer variation of the WGM spectrum. We use the discovered effect to fabricate optical WGM microresonators having potential applications in optical signal processing and microfluidic sensing. Our results pave the way for the ultraprecise fabrication of resonant optical microdevices and the ultra-accurate characterization of physical and chemical processes at solid–liquid interfaces.

中文翻译：

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慢速光学烹饪产生的光子微谐振器

二氧化硅和水被称为极惰性的化学材料，其相互作用尚不完全清楚。在这里，我们表明，通过在充满水的二氧化硅微毛细管中传播的光学耳语画廊模式（WGM），可以显着增强这种相互作用的效果。我们的实验表明，在数小时内将液态水消逝的WGMs会在二氧化硅材料中引起永久性的变化，其特征在于WGM谱的亚纳米级变化。我们利用发现的效应来制造光学WGM微谐振器，在光学信号处理和微流体传感方面具有潜在的应用。我们的研究结果为谐振光学微器件的超精确制造以及固液界面处物理和化学过程的超精确表征铺平了道路。