Active microcavity and coupled cavities in one-dimensional photonic crystal

The propagation of light in one-dimensional SiO2-TiO2 coupled cavity photonic crystal is investigated. In particular the potential application in light amplification is proposed considering the small group velocity that characterizes the propagation at the edge of the resonance band due to the defects. Then, by means of a transfer-matrix method and a mode matching method code, an estimation of the photon lifetime and of the field intensity in a three-coupled cavity-photonic crystal is reported comparing it with those pertaining to a microcavity photonic crystal. This calculation allows us to underline the role of the light-matter interaction time with respect to that of the number of the active medium layers in the optical amplification.