Abstract

In quantum wells embedded in a medium with a spatially uniform background dielectric constant, excitons exhibit a nonzero radiative width.¹ Because of the broad spectral width associated with the small wave-vector excitonlike states, predominantly exponential radiative decay is expected in the time domain. The radiative dynamics are strongly altered if the quantum well is embedded within a planar optical microcavity because of the enhancement in the effective density of optical modes near the exciton resonance. Recently, there has been an effort to study vacuum-field Rabi oscillations in such systems, and both the normal-mode splitting² and temporal oscillations³ have been observed. Simple analyses based on atomic treatments, such as the consideration of a point dipole placed between two mirrors, are inappropriate for the cavity-embedded quantum well because of the delocalized nature of the excitation within the quantum-well plane. In addition, one must account for the strong-dependence of the effective cavity Q on the in-plane wave-vector and for the harmonic-oscillator nature of the exciton.

© 1994 Optical Society of America