Enhanced single-photon emission from quantum dots in photonic crystal waveguides and nanocavities

A theoretical formalism is presented to investigate enhanced radiative decay of excited dipoles in photonic crystal waveguides and nanocavities with a view to achieving efficient single-photon emission from embedded quantum dots. Surprisingly, large enhancement effects are achievable in both waveguides and nanocavities, and enhanced emission in the waveguide is shown to scale proportionally (inversely) with the photon group index (velocity). Further, a way to include radiative coupling of the quantum dot is shown, and the importance of its inclusion is subsequently demonstrated. (C) 2004 Optical Society of America.