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1.National Laboratory of Solid-State Microstructures and College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
2.Shenzhen Research Institute of Nanjing University, Shenzhen 581000, China
Fei Xu (feixu@nju.edu.cn)
Received:10 March 2025,
Revised:2025-11-03,
Accepted:06 November 2025,
Online First:06 March 2026,
Published:31 May 2026
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Zhou, X. X., Ding, Z. X. & Xu, F. Microfiber knot resonator with 107 Q-factor record. Light: Science & Applications, 15, 1639-1651 (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41377-025-02124-1.
Despite the realization of ultra-high-quality-factor (UHQ) in various dielectric micro-resonators with extensive applications
UHQ microfiber resonators which are directly compatible with all-fiber framework have not yet been achieved
primarily because of the insufficient research on the mechanical properties of microfibers
and the challenges of coupling regulation. Here
we constructed an UHQ microfiber knot resonator (MKR) fabrication model
addressing the decades-long Q-factor bottleneck and achieving a record Q-factor of 3.9 × 10
7
which is an improvement of three orders of magnitude compared to conventional levels. By controlling environmental parameters for producing high-quality microfibers with uniform stress and low loss
along with experimental and theoretical investigation in coupling mechanism
optimized conditions are attained
offering experimental guidance for fabricating UHQ-MKR stably and reproducibly. After fabrication and characterization
the UHQ-MKR device is also applied into an all-fiber laser scheme to boost narrow-linewidth single-frequency laser operation
highlighting the potential of the resonator. The research opens an era of UHQ microfiber resonator exceeding 10
7
level
paving the path for more precision and efficient microfiber guiding-wave photonics.
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