Abstract:
Metamaterials with highly tunable refractive indices greatly enhance light-matter interaction in
one-dimensional photonic crystals. As has been recently shown, the ionization energies of atoms placed in
air voids of photonic crystals can be dramatically changed. The origin of the effect is the modification of the
interaction of an electron with its own radiation field that gives rise to the change of the electron electromag-
netic mass. For the first time the electromagnetic mass comes to play in describing physical processes. The
mass correction is anisotropic and depends on the electron states. The photonic crystal mass correction is an
observable and is described by an operator. The effect is strongly enhanced when the photonic crystal is made
from highly tunable refractive index metamaterials, and the controllability of these materials gives rise to the
controllability of the ionization energies and, hence, the physicochemical properties of atoms over a wide
range. Thus, we assume that this quantum electrodynamic effect can be one of the main mechanisms for the
acceleration of chemical reactions. In this work, the method of experimental verification of this effect based
on the observation of shifts in the spectral lines of helium atoms injected in the gas phase in air voids of a
hybrid one-dimensional photonic crystal by optical spectroscopy techniques is suggested. We believe that
experimental verification of the effect under study can open new opportunities for the study of chemical and
biochemical reactions and for the synthesis exceptional chemical compounds in confined environment that
could be used in pharmaceutics and medical applications.
