Abstract

The method of "Periodic-Pumping" for Spontaneous-Emission (SpE) investigation has been first introduced by our laboratory.¹ This method is applied here to vacuum-confinement structures [i.e., the "microcavity"²,³ and single-mirror confinement devices]. The method consists of the detection of the effect of spatial displacement of the excitation-region in the vacuum-confined active-zone on the SpE average probability: Γ = (1/T). The method is illustrated with reference to the Fabry-Perot microcavity with spacing d = d ≡ λ/2, i.e., in "SpE enhancement" condition. There the injection-angle θ of the well-collimated coherent pumping beam (SHG by an unstable-cavity Nd-YaG laser) which interferes only once in the microcavity by singlemirror reflection, is related to the position of the center-of-mass of the active-zone. A strong effect of SpE lifetime change under θ-variation enables the study of the distribution of the self-interfering vacuum field in the microcavity.

© 1990 Optical Society of America