Resonant Rayleigh Scattering of Exciton-Polaritons in Multiple Quantum Wells

A theoretical concept of resonant Rayleigh scattering (RRS) of exciton-polaritons in multiple quantum wells (QWs) is presented. The optical coupling between excitons in different QWs can strongly affect the RRS dynamics, giving rise to characteristic temporal oscillations on a picosecond scale. Bragg and anti-Bragg arranged QW structures with the same excitonic parameters are predicted to have drastically different RRS spectra. Experimental data on the RRS from multiple QWs show the predicted strong temporal oscillations at small scattering angles, which are well explained by the presented theory.