Abstract
This work investigates the relationship between the Q factor of a silica microsphere coated with nonlinear optical molecules and the surface density of the nonlinear molecules. Two types of nonlinear molecules are studied: poly{1-[p-(3'-carboxy-4'-hydroxyphenylazo)benzenesulfonamido]-1,2-ethandiyl} (PCBS), and Procion Brown MX-GRN (PB). In our experiments, we coat silica microspheres with ionic self-assembled multilayer films with different thicknesses as well as with different PCBS/PB chromophores densities. The Q factors of the coated microspheres are measured to be within the range of 10(6) to 10(7), which can be attributed to the optical absorption of the coated chromophores. This work can be used to experimentally determine the effective density of chromophores assembled on the silica microsphere. It may also find applications in chemical/biological sensing. (C) 2016 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)