Interplay between spontaneous decay rates and Lamb shifts in open photonic systems

Opt Lett. 2018 May 1;43(9):1950-1953. doi: 10.1364/OL.43.001950.

Abstract

In this Letter, we describe the modified decay rate and photonic Lamb (frequency) shift of quantum emitters in terms of the resonant states of a neighboring photonic resonator. This description illustrates a fundamental distinction in the behaviors of closed (conservative) and open (dissipative) systems: the Lamb shift is bounded by the emission linewidth in closed systems while it overcomes this limit in open systems.