We study the photoluminescence of quantum well excitons imbedded in mo
nolithic microcavities. In the strong coupling regime, a coupled-mode
situation develops, the cavity-polariton, We describe a model of the p
hotoluminescence phenomenon in this regime, which by comparison with e
xperiments enables us to determine the cavity-polariton dispersion cur
ve. An excellent agreement with our theoretical model is found.