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  • Letter
  • Open Access

Green's-function expansion for multiple coupled optical resonators with finite retardation using quasinormal modes

Robert Meiners Fuchs1,*, Juanjuan Ren2, Stephen Hughes2, and Marten Richter1,†

  • 1Institut für Physik und Astronomie, Nichtlineare Optik und Quantenelektronik, Technische Universität Berlin, Hardenbergstrasse 36, EW 7-1, 10623 Berlin, Germany
  • 2Department of Physics, Engineering Physics, and Astronomy, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6

  • *Contact author: r.fuchs.1@tu-berlin.de
  • †Contact author: marten.richter@tu-berlin.de

Phys. Rev. A 113, L041503 – Published 13 April, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/bbk5-l3tt

Abstract

The electromagnetic Green's function is a crucial ingredient for the theoretical study of modern photonic quantum devices, but is often difficult or even impossible to calculate directly. We present a numerically efficient framework for calculating the scattered electromagnetic Green's function of a multicavity system with spatially separated open cavities (with arbitrary shape, dispersion, and loss) and finite retardation times. The framework is based on a Dyson scattering equation that enables the construction of the Green's function from the quasinormal modes of the individual resonators within a few-mode approximation and a finite number of iteration steps without requiring nested integrals. The approach shows excellent agreement with the full numerical Green's function for the example of two coupled dipoles located in the gaps of two metal dimers serving as quasinormal mode cavities, and is easily extended to arbitrarily large separations and multiple cavities.

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