Generalization of microcavities: Effects of asymmetry in the field localization and transmittance for supported microcavities

Abstract Theoretical means are used to show how asymmetry allows the generalization of microcavity resonators. The transfer matrix method is used to show that field localization and maximum transmission reduction can be minimized by introducing an asymmetry into the cavity structure, for the case when refractive indexes of incident and transmission media are not the same, obtaining a generalization for this kind of system, and theoretically solving the effect of using an asymmetry. These calculations are explicitly shown for an experimental system consisting of a porous-silicon asymmetric microcavity, clearly obtaining a larger transmittance compared with the symmetric case.