Excitation power dependence of the Purcell effect in photonic crystal microcavity lasers with quantum wires

The Purcell effect dependence on the excitation power is studied in photonic crystal microcavity lasers embedding InAs/InP quantum wires. In the case of non-lasing modes, the Purcell effect has low dependence on the optical pumping, attributable to an exciton dynamics combining free and localized excitons. In the case of lasing modes, the influence of the stimulated emission makes ambiguous the determination of the Purcell factor. We have found that this ambiguity can be avoided by measuring the dependence of the decay time on the excitation power. These results provide insights in the determination of the Purcell factor in microcavity lasers. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.