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Purcell effect in chiral environments: A macroscopic QED perspective

C. S. Rapp1, Janine C. Franz2,*, Stefan Yoshi Buhmann1,†, and O. J. Franca1,‡

  • 1Institut für Physik, Universität Kassel, Heinrich-Plett-Straße 40, 34132 Kassel, Germany
  • 2Physikalisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Hermann-Herder-Straße 3, 79104 Freiburg, Germany

  • *Contact author: janine.franz@u-bordeaux.fr
  • †Contact author: stefan.buhmann@uni-kassel.de
  • ‡Contact author: uk081688@uni-kassel.de
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Phys. Rev. A 112, 013109 – Published 9 July, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/9k2w-rvcm

Abstract

The Purcell effect describes the modification of the spontaneous decay rate in the presence of electromagnetic media and bodies. In this work, we shed light on the dependencies and magnitude of this effect for chiral materials. Using the framework of macroscopic quantum electrodynamics and Fermi's Golden Rule, we study a chiral bulk medium with and without local-field corrections, an idealized chiral mirror and a chiral surface. The results imply that the chiral effect is greatest for large transition frequencies, molecules with large optical rotatory strength and media with a strong cross-susceptibility. In the case of a half space, short distances from the molecule to the interface additionally enhance the effect.

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Phys. Rev. A 112, 013109– Published 9 July, 2025
  • Received 3 March 2025
  • Accepted 16 June 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

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