Chip-based silica microspheres for cavity optomechanics

We have experimentally realized on-chip silica microspheres that feature excellent thermal coupling to the silicon wafer. The chip-based microspheres significantly reduce laser-induced heating and correspondingly exhibit much lower threshold optical power for heating-induced optical bistability. We also show that the chip-based microspheres have optical and especially optomechanical properties that are similar to those of traditional fiber-stem-attached silica microspheres, making the chip-based microspheres suitable for optomechanical studies in a vacuum environment.