Control of polarization and mode mapping of small volume high Q micropillars

We show that the polarization of the emission of a single quantum dot embedded within a microcavity pillar of elliptical cross section can be completely controlled and even switched between two orthogonal linear polarizations by changing the coupling of the dot emission with the polarized photonic modes. We also measure the spatial profile of the emission of a series of pillars with different ellipticities and show that the results can be well described by simple theoretical modeling of the modes of an infinite length elliptical cylinder.