Confined Photon Systems: Fundamentals and Applications Lectures from the Summerschool Held in Cargèse, Corsica, 3–15 August 1998

Claude Fabre (auth.), Henri Benisty, Claude Weisbuch, École Polytechnique, Jean-Michel Gérard, Romuald Houdré, John Rarity (eds.)3540664351, 9783540664352

This set of lecture notes provides a detailed and up-to-date description of a field undergoing explosive growth, that of confined photon systems in the shape of microcavities or photonic crystals. Bringing together world leaders in the field, it provides all the basic tools needed to master a subject which will have both major impact in fundamental studies and widescale applications. Confined photon systems enable the study of low-dimensional photonic systems, modified light-matter interaction, e.g. between excitons and photons in all-solid-state semiconductor microcavities, and of many phenomena of quantum optics, including single photon generation, squeezed light, quantum state entanglement, non-local quantum measurements, and, potentially, quantum computation. They are also on the verge of yielding new, high performance optical devices for large-scale industries such as telecommunications and display technology.

---

Table of contents :
Basics of quantum optics and cavity quantum electrodynamics….Pages 1-37
Basics of dipole emission from a planar cavity….Pages 38-79
Microscopic theory of the optical semiconductor response near the fundamental absorption edge….Pages 80-149
An introduction to photonic crystals….Pages 150-172
Linear optical properties of semiconductor microcavities with embedded quantum wells….Pages 173-242
Spontaneous emission control and microcavity light emitters….Pages 243-297
Cavity QED — where’s the Q?….Pages 298-309
Quantum optics in semiconductors….Pages 310-330
Semiconductor microcavities, quantum boxes and the Purcell effect….Pages 331-351
Single photon sources and applications….Pages 352-365
Photonic crystals for nonlinear optical frequency conversion….Pages 366-392
Physics of light extraction efficiency in planar microcavity light-emitting diodes….Pages 393-405
Measuring the optical properties of two-dimensional photonic crystals in the near infrared….Pages 406-425
Limitations to optical communications….Pages 426-481
Thoughts on quantum computation….Pages 482-491