Universal tuning of Förster resonance energy transfer in gate-programmable conductor-dielectric-conductor heterostructures
Abstract
We develop a quantum-electrodynamical theory for universal tuning of spontaneous emission and Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) in a material-agnostic conductor-dielectric-conductor heterostructure. The platform consists of a dielectric spacer of thickness W bounded by two gate-tunable two-dimensional conductors. The only microscopic input from the surrounding materials is the transverse-magnetic and transverse-electric reflection amplitudes rTM/TE(qρ,ω) of the two sheets. Starting from the QED photon propagator, we derive the retarded Maxwell dyadic, the vacuum/Hadamard field propagator, and the time-ordered Feynman propagator in the same geometry. The spontaneous-emission rate is controlled by the local vacuum spectral density, while FRET is controlled by the nonlocal retarded/advanced product obGR(bxD,bxA;ωD)ℑ balphaA(ωD)obGA(bxA,bxD;ωD). In the transparent limit rTM→ 0, the near-field FRET rate recovers the bulk xρ−6 law. In the Dirichlet/PEC branch rTM→ −1, the gapless transverse mode is removed and the donor-acceptor coupling acquires a Bessel-K envelope, giving an exponentially screened FRET rate ΓD→ A∝exp(−2πxρ/W) at large lateral separation. In the opposite Neumann/PMC-like branch rTM→ 1−, a nearly gapless transverse mode survives and produces a wide quasi-two-dimensional logarithmic propagator, enhancing the nonlocal electromagnetic coupling over a gate-programmable range xρ,*∼ W/(1−rTM). For graphene-Er implementations, the same retarded Green tensor also separates dissipative on-shell Er-to-graphene decay, governed by its absorptive part, from dispersive virtual-plasmon-mediated Er-Er coupling, governed by its reactive part; a plasmonic band gap can suppress the former while retaining the latter.
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BibTeX
@misc{agosto2026universal,
title = {{Universal tuning of Förster resonance energy transfer in gate-programmable conductor-dielectric-conductor heterostructures}},
author = {Alexis J. Agosto and Daniel Gunlycke and Michael N. Leuenberger},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2608.30150},
eprint = {2608.30150},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.30150},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Universal tuning of Förster resonance energy transfer in gate-programmable conductor-dielectric-conductor heterostructures
AU - Alexis J. Agosto
AU - Daniel Gunlycke
AU - Michael N. Leuenberger
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/31
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2608.30150
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.30150
AB - We develop a quantum-electrodynamical theory for universal tuning of spontaneous emission and Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) in a material-agnostic conductor-dielectric-conductor heterostructure. The platform consists of a dielectric spacer of thickness W bounded by two gate-tunable two-dimensional conductors. The only microscopic input from the surrounding materials is the transverse-magnetic and transverse-electric reflection amplitudes r_TM/TE(q_ρ,ω) of the two sheets. Starting from the QED photon propagator, we derive the retarded Maxwell dyadic, the vacuum/Hadamard field propagator, and the time-ordered Feynman propagator in the same geometry. The spontaneous-emission rate is controlled by the local vacuum spectral density, while FRET is controlled by the nonlocal retarded/advanced product obG_R(bx_D,bx_A;ω_D)ℑ balpha_A(ω_D)obG_A(bx_A,bx_D;ω_D). In the transparent limit r_TM→ 0, the near-field FRET rate recovers the bulk x_ρ^−6 law. In the Dirichlet/PEC branch r_TM→ −1, the gapless transverse mode is removed and the donor-acceptor coupling acquires a Bessel-K envelope, giving an exponentially screened FRET rate Γ_D→ A∝exp(−2πx_ρ/W) at large lateral separation. In the opposite Neumann/PMC-like branch r_TM→ 1^−, a nearly gapless transverse mode survives and produces a wide quasi-two-dimensional logarithmic propagator, enhancing the nonlocal electromagnetic coupling over a gate-programmable range x_ρ,*∼ W/(1−r_TM). For graphene-Er implementations, the same retarded Green tensor also separates dissipative on-shell Er-to-graphene decay, governed by its absorptive part, from dispersive virtual-plasmon-mediated Er-Er coupling, governed by its reactive part; a plasmonic band gap can suppress the former while retaining the latter.
ER -