Optical waves in a semiconductor planar microcavity

Electromagnetic propagation in a semiconductor quantum well (QW) planar mic rocavity is investigated by means of the transfer matrix method with specia l emphasis on the relationship between the cavity mode and the cavity struc ture parameters. We find that the cavity mode energy linearly decreases in proportion to increasing width of the QW embedded in the cavity body. Both the photonic band edges and the cavity mode energy are shifted towards high er energy for increasing incidence angle. The larger the incidence angle, t he larger (smaller) the photonic band gap for TE (TM) waves. The physical o rigins have been analyzed.