Accurate determination of the quality factor and tunneling distance of axisymmetric resonators for biosensing applications

Due to ultra high quality factor ($10^6-10^9$), axisymmetric optical microcavities are popular platforms for biosensing applications. It has been recently demonstrated that a microcavity biosensor can track a biodetection event as a function of its quality factor by using phase shift cavity ring down spectroscopy (PS-CRDS). However, to achieve maximum sensitivity, it is necessary to optimize the microcavity parameters for a given sensing application. Here, we introduce an improved finite element model which allows us to determine the optimized geometry for the PS-CRDS sensor. The improved model not only provides fast and accurate determination of quality factors but also determines the tunneling distance of axisymmetric resonators. The improved model is validated numerically, analytically, and experimentally.