Semiconductor microcavities in the strong coupling regime

A single narrow-linewidth quantum-well absorption peak is coupled to the single-mode resonance of a moderately high reflectivity microcavity, resulting in an anticrossing curve as a function of relative detuning. For zero detuning, two cavity peaks and two photoluminescence peaks are seen. Two quantum wells with different resonant energies result in a system of three coupled oscillators. Nonlinear studies include determination of the nonlinearities of the quantum wells, observation of optical bistability, and saturation of the microcavity transmission.