Measurement of spontaneous-emission enhancement near the one-dimensional photonic band edge of semiconductor heterostructures

Abstract

We present results of an experimental investigation into alteration of the spontaneous emission spectrum of GaAs from within one-dimensional photonic band gap (PBG) structures. The PBG samples are multilayer AlAs/${\mathrm{Al}}_{0.2}$ ${\mathrm{Ga}}_{0.8}$As/GaAs p-i-n light-emitting diodes, with layers arranged as a distributed Bragg reflector. The emission spectra normal to the layers are measured, and we use a simple method to model the power spectrum of spontaneous emission from within the structures. We find that the emitted power is enhanced by a factor of 3.5 at the frequencies near the photonic band edge. © 1996 The American Physical Society.