Abstract

Quarter wavelength stacks of transparent semiconductors, known as Bragg reflectors (DBR), are used to efficiently confine the light in recently realized semiconductor microcavities. The resulting cavity mode may then be coupled to an exciton resonance by inserting a quantum well (QW) inside the cavity. This coupling becomes strong for large cavity finesses, and mixed exciton-cavity modes result, split by up to a few meV in the III-V materials considered.^1–3 Radiative emission and dispersion of this modes may be tailored by changing the properties of the cavity. In particular, radiative recombination rates may be sizeably enhanced. Time-response of these solid-state systems is an argument of widespread interest, because it is a key point if (and how) the cavity is going to sizeable enhance the photoluminescence decay rates. In this paper we address this point theoretically, and make comparisons with experimental results.

© 1996 Optical Society of America