Cavity QED effects in semiconductor microcavities

A theoretical investigation of cavity QED effects in semiconductor microcav ities containing quantum wells is presented. A model Hamiltonian is used to derive equations of motion for the quantum photon and exciton fields in th e cavity. Quantum effects such as squeezing and antibunching are predicted in the light field going out of the cavity under irradiation by a coherent laser field, if exciton-phonon scattering is weak enough. Exciton-phonon sc attering is shown to destroy the nonclassical effects and to yield excess n oise in the output field.