We consider the feasibility of controlling the energy transfer between an unexcited and an excited atom using microcavities. The excitation-transfer probability is related to the strength of the dipole-dipole interaction and thus the excitation-transfer rates could be increased by enhancing the dipole-dipole interaction. We demonstrate this enhancement with an explicit three-dimensional calculation for a metallic cavity, which we characterize with a realistic dielectric function. We also demonstrate the shifts in cavity resonances from their ideal positions $m\lambda /2\mathrm{}$ ($m$ is an integer and λ is the wavelength).

• Received 25 February 1997

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.57.667