QED in optically active media: Enhanced spontaneous emission and chiral, yet parity-conserving, corrections to the electron mass
Karl-Peter Marzlin · Physical Review A · 1996
The electromagnetic field inside an isotropic optically active medium is quantized on the base of Fedorov's model for optical activity. The modified photon propagator is derived. Using this result it is shown that the QED correction to the electron mass contains chiral terms which nevertheless are parity invariant. The spontaneous emission rate of a two-level atom is shown to increase in the medium. The spontaneously emitted radiation is partially polarized. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.