Resonance Rayleigh scattering from semiconductor heterostructures: The role of radiative coupling

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Abstract
The resonance Rayleigh scattering from disordered semiconductor heterostructures is investigated. Within a generalized transfer-matrix approach, the propagation of the optical field and the linear material response in the presence of disorder are solved self-consistently. To investigate the role of radiative coupling, studies for a single quantum well, multiple quantum wells, and a quantum well embedded in a microcavity are performed. It is shown that the dynamics of the resonance Rayleigh scattered signals is not only determined by the underlying disorder potential, but also by the properties of the polaritonic eigenmodes of the system. In certain cases the polaritonic coupling effects even dominate over the disorder.