Plasmon—Assisted Resonance Energy Transfer Involving Electric and Magnetic Coupling

Abstract

We develop a quantum theory based on macroscopic quantum electrodynamics to research the resonance energy transfer (RET) between a chiral donor and acceptor. It differs from the previous Green function approach which needs specific boundary conditions to obtain an analytical solution for calculating the RET rate. Our theory can combine the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method, which gives a simple and efficient semi-analytical approach, to evaluate the chiral RET rate in an arbitrary plasmonic nanosystem. Applying our theory to the systems of chiral molecules 3-methylcyclopentanone (3MCP) near the achiral/chiral plasmonic nanostructures, the RET process, which is divided into nondiscriminatory and discriminatory parts, is investigated. We find that plasmon will enhance both nondiscriminatory and discriminatory rates compared to the absence of plasmonic nanostructure, but the plasmon supported by chiral nanostructure contributes more to the discriminatory rate. The ratio of discriminatory to nondiscriminatory rates in the system consisting of 3MCP and chiral plasmonic structure is five-fold compared to the system consisting of 3MCP and achiral plasmonic structure. The phenomena can be attributed to the chiral electric-magnetic coupling. Our findings are important in understanding the achiral and chiral electric-magnetic interaction and designing chiral light-harvesting and sensing devices.