Semiconductor microcavities for enhanced nonlinear optics interactions

Semiconductor microcavities offer a unique way to enhance nonlinear optical processes through light confinement in space and time. In this article we review two different nonlinear optics semiconductor-based applications that benefit from the microcavity setting. Firstly, we discuss a difference frequency generation scheme in a GaAs microdisk. Secondly, we show how a recently demonstrated source of counter-propagating twin photons can display a sensible performance improvement when combined with a vertical cavity. [DOI: 10.2971/jeos.2008.08030]