Abstract

Research on light-matter interactions is currently vivid, as there is much interest in controlling light emission phenomena. A central issue regarding light emission is the angular distribution of emission intensity that exits a photonic medium. Fundamental insight in this escape probability distribution, or escape function, is needed to explain the properties of the emitter and understand the photonic structure [1,2]. The escape function is often disregarded in emission experiments. This leads to misinterpretations as changes in light intensities are mistakenly attributed to enhancement or inhibition of the light sources' spontaneous emission decay rate.

© 2009 IEEE