The origin and influence of non-cavity modes in a micropillar Bragg microcavity

Jordan, Matthew, Langbein, Wolfgang ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9786-1023 and Bennett, Anthony J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5386-3710 2025. The origin and influence of non-cavity modes in a micropillar Bragg microcavity. Scientific Reports 15 (1) , 38202. 10.1038/s41598-025-22089-w

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Abstract

Controlling the photonic environment of emitters is essential to the design of classical and quantum light sources. We study the case of a dipole-like emitter in a cylindrical pillar etched into a planar Bragg microcavity, which is a common design of quantum-dot single photon source. In addition to the well-known cavity modes created by the high-reflectivity of the Bragg mirrors at small in-plane wavevectors, we show the presence of broad spectral features that play a key role in controlling photon collection efficiency and Purcell enhancement. These ‘non-cavity’ modes are insensitive to the periodic index modulation of the Bragg reflectors, but arise from the cylindrical pillar geometry, as we show by comparison with simulations of uniform pillars, which reproduce the non-cavity modes. This approach provides a tool for understanding and modelling these often-disregarded decay channels as a function of source height, cavity dimensions and surface layers.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Engineering Schools > Physics and Astronomy
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, Type: open-access
Publisher:	Nature Research
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	5 November 2025
Date of Acceptance:	25 September 2025
Last Modified:	05 Nov 2025 10:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/182134

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