Abstract

When a quantum-well exciton transition is resonant with a single mode of a high-Q microcavity, the linear reponse of the coupled system may be described in terms of normal modes (“cavity po- laritons”), which arise as a result of the interplay of absorption and dispersion of the exciton transition within the cavity. The nonlinear response of these systems has often been discussed in terms of “polaritonic nonlinearities”.^1,2 At the same time, tremendous progress has been made in recent years in understanding the microscopic origin of the polarization-dependent nonlinear optical response in bare quantum wells, including a self-consistent theory of Coulomb correlation- induced nonlinearities in the coherent regime.^3,4 It is therefore desirable to investigate the nonlinearities of normal-mode microcavities (NMC’s) at the same level and to determine if the microscopic theory accounting for the bare-QW response also quantitatively accounts for the normal-mode nonlinear response.

© 2001 Optical Society of America