Local field effects for spherical quantum dot emitters in the proximity of a planar dielectric interface

We use numerical solutions of macroscopic Maxwell's equations to study spontaneous emission rates of model spherical quantum dot (QD) emitters in the vicinity of a highly polarizable dielectric substrate. It is demonstrated that extra polarization of the QD body taking place in the interfacial region may lead to appreciable deviations from the rates that would be expected under the assumption of a fixed magnitude of the effective QD transition dipole moment. Illustrations are given for both radiative and nonradiative decay processes, and potential experimental implications are discussed. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America