Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 2, 2026

Fabrication And Characterization Of Photonic Crystal Slow Light Waveguides And Cavities
Published on: November 30, 2012
Effect of interface disorder on quantum well excitons and microcavity polaritons
1Institut de Théorie des Phénomènes Physiques, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Abstract:
The theory of the linear optical response of excitons in quantum wells and polaritons in planar semiconductor microcavities is reviewed, in the light of the existing experiments. For quantum well excitons, it is shown that disorder mainly affects the exciton centre-of-mass motion and is modelled by an effective Schrödinger equation in two dimensions. For polaritons, a unified model accounting for quantum well roughness and fluctuations of the microcavity thickness is developed. Numerical results confirm that polaritons are mostly affected by disorder acting on the photon component, thus confirming existing studies on the influence of exciton disorder. The polariton localization length is estimated to be in the few-micrometres range, depending on the amplitude of disorder, in agreement with recent experimental findings.
Related Concept Videos
The de Broglie Wavelength
Biasing of Metal-Semiconductor Junctions
In Schottky junctions, where the semiconductor is n-type, applying a positive voltage to the metal relative to the semiconductor reduces its Fermi...
Potential Due to a Polarized Object
Standing Waves in a Cavity

