Abstract

The most usual method of studying the microcavity effect on spontaneous emissions is to change cavity resonant characteristics for a fixed emission wavelength. In semiconductor cases, however, it is difficult to take advantage of this method because different devices show different recombination characteristics of electron-hole pairs in the active layers of micro cavities, even if the radiative quantum yield in the active layer is dose to 100%. An alternative method is to continuously tune the emission wavelength of excitons in semiconductor quantum wells (QWs) by the quantum-confined Stark effect (QCSE).¹ In this paper the systematic result of the cavity effect on exciton lifetime, obtained with the alternative method, will be demonstrated. Another attractive feature of the scheme based on QCSE in microcavities is the high-speed switching capability of the emission intensity and radiation pattern for pulsed changes in applied electric fields in QWs, this is also demonstrated in this paper.

© 1994 Optical Society of America