We demonstrate that the emission characteristics of site-controlled InGaAs/GaAs single quantum dots embedded in photonic crystal slab cavities correspond to single confined excitons coupled to cavity modes, unlike previous reports of similar systems based on self-assembled quantum dots. By using polarization-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy at different temperatures and a theoretical model, we show that the exciton-cavity interaction range is limited to the phonon sidebands. Photon-correlation and pump-power dependence experiments under nonresonant excitation conditions further establish that the cavity is fed only by a single exciton.

Coupling between photonic-crystal defect microcavities is observed to result in a splitting not only of the mode wavelength but also of the modal loss. It is discussed that the characteristics of the loss splitting may have an important impact on the optical energy transfer between the coupled resonators. The loss splitting--given by the imaginary part of the coupling strength--is found to arise from the difference in diffractive out-of-plane radiation losses of the symmetric and the antisymmetric modes of the coupled system. An approach to control the splitting via coupling barrier engineering is presented.

The authors demonstrate the deterministic coupling between a single, site-controlled InGaAs∕GaAs pyramidal quantum dot (QD) and a photonic crystal membrane cavity defect. The growth of self-ordered pyramidal QDs in small (300nm base side) tetrahedral recesses etched on (111)B GaAs substrates was developed in order to allow their integration within the thin GaAs membranes. Accurate (better than 50nm) positioning of the QD with respect to the optical cavity mode is achieved reproducibly owing to the site control. Coupling of the dot emission with the cavity mode is evidenced in photoluminescence measurements. The deterministic positioning of the pyramidal QDs and the control of their emission spectrum opens the way for devices based on QDs integrated with coupled nanocavities.

We report on the achievement of freestanding GaN photonic crystal L7 nanocavities with embedded InGaN/GaN quantum wells grown by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy on Si (111). GaN was patterned by e-beam lithography, using a SiO2 layer as a hard mask, and usual dry etching techniques. The membrane was released by underetching the Si (111) substrate. Micro-photoluminescence measurements performed at low temperature exhibit a quality factor as high as 5200 at ∼420 nm, a value suitable to expand cavity quantum electrodynamics to the near UV and the visible range and to develop nanophotonic platforms for biofluorescence spectroscopy.

Site-controlled quantum-wire photonic-crystal microcavity laser is experimentally demonstrated using optical pumping. The single-mode lasing and threshold are established based on the transient laser response, linewidth narrowing, and the details of the non-linear power input-output characteristics. Average-power threshold as low as approximately 240 nW (absorbed power) and spontaneous emission coupling coefficient beta approximately 0.3 are derived.