Resonant Energy Transfer Under the Influence of the Evanescent Field from the Metal

Amrit Poudel, Xin Chen, Mark A. Ratner

Published 2017-02-01Version 1

We present a quantum framework based on a density matrix of a dimer system to investigate the quantum dynamics of excitation energy transfer (EET) in the presence of the evanescent field from the metal and the phonon bath. Due to the spatial correlation of the electric field in the vicinity of the metal, the spectral density of the evanescent field is similar to that of a shared phonon bath. However, the EET dynamics under the influence of the evanescent field is an open and a new problem. Here we use a thin metallic film to investigate the effect of the evanescent field on the excitation energy transfer in a dimer system based on a density matrix approach. Our results indicate that a thin metallic film enhances the energy transfer rate at the expense of absorbing energy during the process. Since the spectral density of the evanescent field is affected by the geometry of the medium and the distance of a dimer system from the medium, our results demonstrate the possibility to tune EET based on material geometry and distances. Our model also serves as an expansion to quantum heat engine model and provides a framework to investigate the EET in light harvesting molecular networks under the influence of the evanescent field.