Microscopic theory of modified spontaneous emission in a dielectric.
The modification of the radiative decay rate of a source atom embedded in a uniform, isotropic dielectric is calculated to first order in the density of the dielectric atoms using a microscopic approach. In contrast to the recent results of Crenshaw and Bowden [Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 1851 (2000)]], the decay rate is found to be consistent with macroscopic theories based on quantization of the field in the dielectric.
Berman
P R
PR
Michigan Center for Theoretical Physics, FOCUS Center, and Physics Department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1120, USA.
Milonni
P W
PW