Dielectric cavity QED between photonic crystals: An effective uniaxial medium approach - art. no. 043804

The spontaneous-emission rate is evaluated for dipole emitters situated in the thin slab region between two semi-infinite one-dimensionally periodic p hotonic crystals, a situation reminiscent of planar cavity laser structures . It is pointed out that the long-wavelength electromagnetic fields support ed by such complex structures can be directly quantized provided that the p air of semi-infinite photonic crystals are treated within the effective-med ium approach, in which each photonic crystal is represented by a truncated uniaxial medium whose dielectric tensor components are determinable in term s of layer thicknesses and dielectric functions of the individual photonic crystal components. The spontaneous-emission rate is evaluated for a dipole emitter situated in the slab region, and oscillating at a frequency resona nt with one of the modes that are localized within the slab and exponential ly decaying within the photonic crystals. Both symmetric and asymmetric str uctures are discussed. Interesting features are predicted when the variatio ns of the adjustable parameters are examined, including suppression and enh ancement of the spontaneous rate.