Resonance-enhanced spontaneous emission from quantum dots

Enhanced and inhibited spontaneous emission from a pointlike quantum dot embedded in a finite dielectric sphere are treated classically. Numerical results given for a GaAs quantum dot embedded in an Al_(0.4)Ga_(0.6)As sphere show the spontaneous emission rate is decreased by a factor of 80 when the radius of the sphere is small compared to the wavelength of emitted light. When the radius of the sphere is comparable to the wavelength, the spontaneous emission rate depends strongly on the radius. Sharp resonances, related to Mie resonances, with enhancements up to a factor of 100, are found in some cases.