Advances and prospects for whispering gallery mode microcavities in quantum precision measurement applications

Large volumes of light sources and their characteristics control devices are challenges to out-of-laboratory applications of quantum precision measurement devices, such as spin-exchange relaxation-free (SERF) inertial and extremely weak magnetic field measurement devices. High-Q whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonators have excellent optical field confinement capability, extremely narrow linewidth, and small mode volume, which can easily realize compact low noise and high-frequency stability light sources, having a great potential to realize more compact quantum precision measurement devices. This will broaden the use of quantum precision measurement devices in areas such as transportable SERF gyroscopes, wearable magnetometers, etc. In this review, the fundamentals and characteristics of WGM optical cavities are firstly introduced, as well as its fabrication techniques and built-up materials. Then, the laser stabilizing applications of WGM optical cavities including wavelength tuning, self-injection locking, and thermal stabilization are discussed. Finally, the application prospects of quantum precision measurement are discussed.