Spontaneous emission in the near-field of 2D photonic crystals

TL;DR

This paper theoretically investigates how photonic crystal membranes significantly alter the spontaneous emission rates of nearby dipole emitters, showing both inhibition and enhancement effects, and proposes a nanoscopic probe for mapping these variations.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical analysis of near-field spontaneous emission modifications in 2D photonic crystals and proposes a nanoscopic fiber-tip probe for local density of states mapping.

Findings

Inhibition of spontaneous emission by over five times.

Enhancement of spontaneous emission by over ten times.

Potential for local mapping of photonic density of states.

Abstract

We show theoretically that photonic crystal membranes cause large variations in the spontaneous emission rate of dipole emitters, not only inside but also in the near-field above the membranes. Our three-dimensional finite difference time-domain calculations reveal an inhibition of more than five times and an enhancement of more than ten times for the spontaneous emission rate of emitters with select dipole orientations and frequencies. Furthermore we demonstrate theoretically, the potential of a nanoscopic emitter attached to the end of a glass fiber tip as a local probe for mapping the large spatial variations of the photonic crystal local radiative density of states. This arrangement is promising for on-command modification of the coupling between an emitter and the photonic crystal in quantum optical experiments.