Angular spectrum of visible resonant cavity light-emitting diodes

We present spectrally resolved angular radiation patterns from visible resonant cavity light-emitting diodes. Recording the pattern for a fixed wavelength clearly demonstrates how the overall angular emission is strongly influenced by the relative spectral alignment of the cavity resonance and the underlying quantum well emission, i.e., the detuning. Combined with measurements of total optical power, taken over a range of solid angles, the results highlight the importance of accounting for the collection optics of a proposed application when an optimum design is considered. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(99)08318-8].