Entangled Photon Resonance Energy Transfer in Arbitrary Media

Area of Science:

• Quantum Optics
• Chemical Physics
• Materials Science

Background:

• Two-photon interactions exhibit unique nonclassical characteristics.
• Resonance energy transfer (RET) is fundamental in photochemistry and biophysics.
• Existing RET theories often do not account for quantum entanglement effects.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a comprehensive Förster-type formulation for entangled-two-photon resonance energy transfer (E2P-RET).
• To investigate E2P-RET in complex, inhomogeneous, dispersive, and absorptive media.
• To explore the role of temporal entanglement in enhancing energy transfer rates.

Main Methods:

• Developed a theoretical framework for E2P-RET based on entangled photon interactions.
• Modeled excitation via temporally entangled fields and virtual photons from radiative cascade decay.
• Incorporated space- and frequency-dependent dielectric functions for complex media.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated over 3 orders of magnitude enhancement in E2P-RET rates compared to uncorrelated photons.
• Showcased the impact of temporal entanglement, leading to frequency anticorrelation and pathway selection.
• Introduced an effective rate coefficient (K_E2P) to characterize E2P-RET.

Conclusions:

• Entangled photons offer a powerful mechanism for significantly boosting resonance energy transfer efficiency.
• The developed formulation provides a versatile tool for studying E2P-RET in diverse and complex environments.
• The effective rate coefficient K_E2P allows for quantitative analysis of enhancement/suppression based on system parameters.