MICROCAVITY POLARITONS - HOMOGENEOUS AND INHOMOGENEOUS BROADENING IN THE STRONG-COUPLING REGIME

The exciton-polariton states of quantum wells embedded in planar semic onductor microcavities are usually described by assuming in-plane wave vector conservation. In this work we consider the two main k(parallel to)-scattering mechanisms, namely the polariton-phonon scattering and the in-plane structural disorder of the quantum well. We calculate th e homogeneous and inhomogeneous broadening of the polariton levels and show that a detailed model of the scattering processes is essential f or a theoretical derivation of recently observed features of the linea r spectra.