Polarization-dependent phenomena in the reflectivity spectra of semiconductor quantum microcavities

Angular-dependent reflectivity techniques are employed to probe the exciton-polariton states of a semiconductor quantum microcavity. The spectra exhibit marked polarization dependence, with the energies, line widths, and intensities all differing between transverse-electric and transverse-magnetic polarizations, consistent with the predictions of transfer-matrix simulations. In addition, anomalous narrowing of the spectra on resonance, broadening of the cavity mode by interaction with exciton continuum states and interaction of the cavity mode with quantum-well excited-state transitions are reported.