Abstract
The basic building block of vertical cavity surface emitting
lasers (VCSELs) and high efficiency diodes, is a quantum well
embedded in a semiconductor microcavity. The high finesse that may
be achieved in such a cavity is utilised to get a low threshold
current in the VCSELs and a high directionality of the spontaneous
emission in the diodes.At low temperatures, a strong coupling
between the excitons in the quantum well and the electromagnetic
field in the cavity may be achieved. This coupling leads to new
quantum mechanical states, so-called polaritons, the properties of
which are still not fully understood. We present our recent
results on microcavities with a record high ratio of the polariton
splitting to the line width. The dependence of the polariton line
widths on the amount of exciton-photon mixing is shown, which
demonstrate that narrowing of the lower polariton state is taking
place. Due to the steep dispersion, the amount of phase space
available for polariton scattering is reduced, yielding longer
dephasing times and hence narrower lines. The possibility of
tailoring the polariton dispersion in order to reduce the line
width is very interesting, for instance for all-optical switches
based on semiconductor microcavities.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Proceedings, Annual meeting of the Danish Optical Society |
Number of pages | 13 |
Place of Publication | Lyngby |
Publisher | DOPS |
Publication date | 1999 |
Publication status | Published - 1999 |
Event | 1999 Annual meeting of the Danish Optical Society - Lyngby, Denmark Duration: 18 Nov 1999 → 19 Nov 1999 |
Conference
Conference | 1999 Annual meeting of the Danish Optical Society |
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Country/Territory | Denmark |
City | Lyngby |
Period | 18/11/1999 → 19/11/1999 |