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Inhibited Spontaneous Emission in Solid-State Physics and Electronics

Eli Yablonovitch
Phys. Rev. Lett. 58, 2059 – Published 18 May 1987
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An article within the collection: The Physical Review Journals Celebrate The International Year of Light
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Abstract

It has been recognized for some time that the spontaneous emission by atoms is not necessarily a fixed and immutable property of the coupling between matter and space, but that it can be controlled by modification of the properties of the radiation field. This is equally true in the solid state, where spontaneous emission plays a fundamental role in limiting the performance of semiconductor lasers, heterojunction bipolar transistors, and solar cells. If a three-dimensionally periodic dielectric structure has an electromagnetic band gap which overlaps the electronic band edge, then spontaneous emission can be rigorously forbidden.

  • Received 23 December 1986

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.58.2059

©1987 American Physical Society

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The Physical Review Journals Celebrate The International Year of Light

The editors of the Physical Review journals revisit papers that represent important breakthroughs in the field of optics.

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Landmarks—The Birth of Photonic Crystals

Published 23 August 2013

Periodic structures that control photons, much as semiconductors control electrons, came into being in the late 1980s, through a complex interchange between experiment and theory.

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Authors & Affiliations

Eli Yablonovitch

  • Bell Communications Research, Navesink Research Center, Red Bank, New Jersey 07701

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Issue

Vol. 58, Iss. 20 — 18 May 1987

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