MBE growth of planar microcavities with distributed Bragg reflectors

We discuss some problems of molecular beam technology (MBE) technology of p lanar microcavities based on GaAs, AlGaAs and InGaAs compounds. This techno logy needs specific methods of in situ control and postgrowth characterizat ion. One of the crucial problems is that of controlling the substrate tempe rature and the growth rate with very high accuracy. We demonstrate the usef ulness of substrate temperature oscillations observed by infrared pyrometry for both the temperature and the growth rate control. For studying the per fection of layers and interfaces the cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy has been used. To optimize the optical characteristics of the mi crocavities, several experimental methods have been applied. The Bragg refl ectors were investigated by optical reflectivity. For selective excitation of a quantum well (QW) in a cavity active layer, the Ti-sapphire tuneable l aser have been used. The fine tuning between the QW emission and the cavity Fabry-Perot resonance has been investigated by photolominescence for varyi ng temperature of the sample. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights res erved.