Temperature switching of cavity modes in InN microcrystals

InN optical cavities supporting low-order whispering-gallery modes up to room temperature are formed by molecular-beam epitaxy on patterned substrates. The observed switching of the mode type with increasing temperature is explained in terms of changes in the optical parameters due to a shift of the absorption edge and modification of its shape. Modeling taking into account a variation in the refractive index reproduces the typical distributions of the electromagnetic-field intensity in the cavities.