Whispering-gallery waves in optical fibres

The process of excitation of whispering-gallery waves (WGWs) in optical fibres (microcavities) with the help of a bitapered fibre is analysed. It is shown that useful information on the WGW modes can be obtained from the spectrograms recorded by scanning the exciting-radiation frequency. Based on the geometrical-optic approximation, the longitudinal sizes of the WGW modes are estimated and it is shown that the ultimate diameter of the fibre exists for optical fibres (microcavities) where a mode can be still excited with the help of a bitapered fibre.