Photonic defect states in chains of coupled microresonators

Abstract

Defects in one-dimensional photonic crystals have been studied by angle-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy from which we obtain a comprehensive picture of the energies and field distributions of modes in the photon band gaps. The structures have been fabricated by coupling semiconductor microcavities that exhibit an index confinement of light in all three directions to linear chains. The defects are obtained by varying the size of one of the microcavities in the chain. Time-resolved spectroscopy demonstrates that the decay rate of the spontaneous emission of quantum dots into a defect mode is considerably enhanced (Purcell effect).