Planar coupling to high-Q lithium niobate disk resonators.

We demonstrate optical coupling to high-Q lithium niobate disks from an integrated lithium niobate waveguide. The waveguides are made by proton exchange in X-cut lithium niobate substrate. The disks with diameter of 4.7 mm and thickness of 1 mm are made from commercial Z-cut lithium niobate wafers by polishing the edges into a spheroidal profile. Both resonance linewidth and cavity ringdown measurements were performed to calculate the Q factor of the resonator, which is in excess of 10(8). Planar coupling represents the most promising technique for practical applications of whispering gallery mode resonators.