Modal analysis of spontaneous emission in a planar microcavity

A complete set of cavity modes in planar dielectric microcavities is presented which naturally includes guided modes. We show that most of these orthonormal fields can be derived from a coherent superposition of plane waves incoming on the stack from the air and from the substrate. Spontaneous emission of a dipole located inside the microcavity is analyzed, in terms of cavity modes. Derivation of the radiation pattern in the air and in the substrate is presented. The power emitted into the guided modes is also determined. Finally, a numerical analysis of the radiative properties of an erbium atom located in a Fabry-Pérot multilayer dielectric microcavity is investigated. We show that a large amount of light is emitted into the guided modes of the structure, in spite of the Fabry-Pérot resonance, which increases the spontaneous emission rate in a normal direction. © 1996 The American Physical Society.