Weak and strong coupling of photons and excitons in photonic dots

The weak- and strong-coupling regimes of photons and excitons in photonic dots are studied by photoluminescence spectroscopy. Because of the three-dimensional confinement, the optical mode spectrum is split into a set of discrete states in these structures. The energies of the photon states are studied as a function of the dot size and shape. Further, we investigate the formation of cavity polaritons in photonic dots. The Rabi splitting between the polariton branches is found to depend on the lateral size of the dots and on the photon mode. These dependences are related by calculations to changes of the exciton-photon coupling resulting from photon confinement. [S0163-1829(98)00916-3].