Abstract

Although semiconductor microcavities have been extensively studied, the investigation of resonant Rayleigh scattering (RRS) in these structures is only at its beginning [1,2,3], We report here the first measurements of RRS using ultrafast spectral interferometry. These measurements unambiguously identify the RRS component of the secondary radiation, and uniquely distinguish between RRS and photoluminescence (PL). We demonstrate that RRS is restricted to the annulus defined by the in-plane wave-vector ${\overrightarrow{K}}_{\parallel }^0$ of the excitation laser beam. This leads to a strong enhancement of the total emission on the annulus [3], in striking contrast to RRS from quantum well excitons. These results are discussed below. Furthermore, we determine the femtosecond dynamics of RRS from Fourier analysis of spectral interferograms, and discuss how RRS intensity and dynamics vary with the detuning 5 between the cavity mode and the exciton. These results provide unique insights into the physics of coupled modes in semiconductor microcavities.

© 1999 Optical Society of America