Abstract

Recently, Ho et al. have shown that a thin two-dimensional (2-D) dielectric waveguide with large core and cladding refractive index difference can be used to modify the spontaneous emission of an active medium in the waveguide.¹ Such a strongly guided 2-D waveguide can be seen as a 2-D potential well for photons. The modification of the spontaneous emission is a result of the change in photon density of states in tine 2-D potential well. We may call such a strongly guided dielectric waveguide a dielectric photonic quantum well.

© 1993 Optical Society of America