Spontaneous Emission of an Optically Active Molecule near a Chiral Nanoellipsoid

TL;DR

This paper derives analytical formulas for the spontaneous emission decay rate of chiral molecules near chiral nanoellipsoids, revealing shape-dependent enhancements that differ for enantiomers.

Contribution

It introduces new analytical expressions for decay rates near chiral nanoellipsoids and explores shape effects on enantiomeric emission differences.

Findings

Shape change from spherical to ellipsoidal enhances decay rate differences

Enantiomer-specific emission rates can be substantially increased

Analytical formulas enable better design of chiral nanostructures

Abstract

We have derived and investigated analytical expressions for the spontaneous emission radiative decay rate of an optically active (chiral) molecule placed near a chiral (bi-isotropic) triaxial nanoellipsoid, which size is much smaller than the wavelength. Differences in radiative decay rates of optically active molecule enantiomers located near the surface of chiral nanoparticles of spherical, prolate spheroidal, and ellipsoidal shapes have been investigated. It is shown that the change of the nanoparticle shape from spherical to ellipsoidal can lead to substantial enhancement of the spontaneous emission radiative decay rate of molecule enantiomers of one type in comparison with the decay rate of the other type of enantiomers.