Spatial oscillations in the spontaneous emission rate of an atom inside a metallic wedge

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the spontaneous emission rate of an atom inside a metallic wedge oscillates due to geometric effects, using the method of images to connect these oscillations with photon closed-orbits.

Contribution

It introduces a method to analyze spontaneous emission in a metallic wedge with arbitrary opening angles, establishing a link between emission rate oscillations and photon closed-orbits.

Findings

The rate formula aligns with Quantum Electrodynamics predictions.

Oscillations in emission rate correspond to photon closed-orbits.

Method of images effectively models atom-wedge interactions.

Abstract

A method of images is applied to study the spontaneous emission of an atom inside a metallic wedge with an opening angle of $\pi/N$, where N is an arbitrary positive integer. We show the method of images gives a rate formula consistent with that from Quantum Electrodynamics. Using the method of images, we show the correspondence between the oscillations in the spontaneous emission rate and the closed-orbits of emitted photon going away and returning to the atom inside the wedge. The closed-orbits can be readily constructed using the method of images and they are also extracted from the spontaneous emission rate.