The Lamb shift (self-energy) of an elliptic dielectric microcavity is studied. We show that the size of the Lamb shift, which is a small energy shift due to the system-environment coupling in the quantum regime, is dependent on the geometry of the boundary conditions. It shows a global transition depending on the eccentricity of the ellipsis. These transitions can be classified into three types of decay channels known as whispering-gallery modes, stable-bouncing-ball modes, and unstable-bouncing-ball modes. These modes are manifested through the Poincaré surface of section with the Husimi distribution function in classical phase space. It is found that the similarity (measured in Bhattacharyya distance) between the Husimi distributions below critical lines of two different modes increases as the difference of their self-energies decreases when the quality factors of the modes are on the same order of magnitude.

• Received 30 June 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.94.033833