We study the normal modes and quasi-normal modes (QNMs) in circular dielectric microcavities through non-Hermitian Hamiltonian, which come from the modifications due to system-environment coupling. Differences between the two types of modes are studied in detail, including the existence of resonances tails. Numerical calculations of the eigenvalues reveal the Lamb shift in the microcavity due to its interaction with the environment. We also investigate relations between the Lamb shift and quantized angular momentum of the whispering gallery mode as well as the refractive index of the microcavity. For the latter, we make use of the similarity between the Helmholtz equation and the Schrödinger equation, in which the refractive index can be treated as a control parameter of effective potential. Our result can be generalized to other open quantum systems with a potential term.

The relation between Shannon entropy and avoided crossings is investigated in dielectric microcavities. The Shannon entropy of the probability density for eigenfunctions in an open elliptic billiard as well as a closed quadrupole billiard increases as the center of the avoided crossing is approached. These results are opposite to those of atomic physics for electrons. It is found that the collective Lamb shift of the open quantum system and the symmetry breaking in the closed chaotic quantum system have equivalent effects on the Shannon entropy.

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 unstablebouncing-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.

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