Polarization splitting in organic-based microcavities working in the strong coupling regime

The emission features and the polarization splitting are investigated in organic microcavities operating in the strong coupling regime. The microcavity relies on a J-aggregate of cyanine dyes as active layer, and on high reflectivity distributed Bragg reflectors, fabricated by low-temperature reactive electron-beam evaporation. The operation of the microcavities in the strong coupling regime is demonstrated both by reflectivity and photoluminescence characterization. A vacuum Rabi splitting in the range 30-100 meV is reported. Important, both polariton branches exhibit a TM-TE polarization splitting depending on the incident angle, theta, and exhibiting a maximum of 35 meV. The angular behaviour of the splitting in the strong coupling regime is investigated and described by the sin(2)theta dependence predicted by the polarization splitting model. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.