The spontaneous emission spectrum from two quantum dots (QDs) that are strongly coupled with a single-mode nanocavity is investigated using rigorous numerical calculations and simple analytical solutions of quantum dynamics. The emission spectra both from the side and along the axis of the cavity are considered. Modification of two parameters, the coupling strength and the detuning between the transition frequencies of the two quantum dots, allows us to efficiently control the shape of the spontaneous emission spectrum. Different profiles and their physical origins can be well understood in the dressed-state picture for the light—QD interaction in the on-resonance and off-resonance situations. In the on-resonance situation, the emission spectra exhibit symmetric features, and they are not altered by the asymmetry in the coupling parameters. The axis spectra show two emission peaks while the side spectra have three emission peaks. In the off-resonance situation, the emission spectra always show an asymmetrical three-peak feature. When the two QDs have different decay parameters, singular features (a peak or a dip) can take place at the frequency of the cavity mode, and this is attributed to the unbalanced process of the emission and absorption of a single photon.
Introduction The preceding chapters have focused on atomic transitions induced by applied radiation. That is, there is an optical field illuminating the atoms, and their response is calculated. It is implicitly assumed that an excited atom left alone will spontaneously return to the ground state, and conserve energy by emitting light that satisfies E 2 − E 1 = ħ ω 21 in accordance with the Planck and Bohr pictures. But this spontaneous emission process is not addressed quantitatively in these earlier chapters. Spontaneous emission is one of the most pervasive phenomena of atomic physics, and yet its origins remain among the least well-understood. The number of misconceptions is enormous, and they are to be found in textbooks, journal articles, and lecture notes. Because the natural decay of an excited atom adds energy to what is usually an empty mode of the electromagnetic field, the process is fundamentally quantum mechanical. Classical or even semi-classical descriptions cannot be assured to give correct answers. This is not to say that such discussion is to be avoided, but only that caution is needed in interpreting the results. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, many experimental results made it clear that classical mechanics needed to be supplemented by new theories. The first venture into the new physics was Planck's hypothesis that the energy of classical radiating oscillators like those discussed in Chap. 1 would have to be quantized into integer multiples of ħ ω. This notion led to his famous formula for the spectrum of thermal radiation from a non-reflective object (black body), and this formula describes a radiation field in thermodynamic equilibrium with its environment. The result of Planck's hypothesis in the context of thermal equilibrium plays a vital role in the discussion of spontaneous emission. Einstein A - and B -coefficients Soon after Bohr proposed a model of atomic structure consisting of discrete energy levels, connected by radiation whose energy satisfied Δ E = ħω when atoms made transition between them, Einstein published the first serious attempt to connect the absorption and emission processes. Absorption, he reasoned, could occur only in the presence of applied radiation, whereas spontaneous decay occurred without the application of any field.