Fluorescence in nonlocal dissipative periodic structures

TL;DR

This paper develops an exact electromagnetic Green's tensor method to analyze fluorescence in layered plasmonic-dielectric structures, revealing significant nonlocal and hyperbolic dispersion effects on emitter luminescence.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive Green's tensor approach to account for nonlocal, finite-thickness, and hyperbolic effects in layered structures affecting fluorescence.

Findings

Nonlocal effects significantly modify emission properties.

Hyperbolic dispersion influences large wave-vector behavior.

Non-additive effects alter emitter luminescence characteristics.

Abstract

We present an approach for the description of fluorescence from optically active material embedded in layered periodic structures. Based on an exact electromagnetic Green's tensor analysis, we determine the radiative properties of emitters such as the local photonic density of states, Lamb shifts, line widths etc. for a finite or infinite sequence of thin alternating plasmonic and dielectric layers. In the effective medium limit, these systems may exhibit hyperbolic dispersion relations so that the large wave-vector characteristics of all constituents and processes become relevant. These include the finite thickness of the layers, the nonlocal properties of the constituent metals, and local-field corrections associated with an emitter's dielectric environment. In particular, we show that the corresponding effects are non-additive and lead to considerable modifications of an emitter's luminescence properties.