Antenna Impedance For Fret: A Theoretical And Experimental Framework For Studying Dipole-Dipole Interactions With Microwave Antennas

Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) is the near-field excitation exchange between a donor in the excited state and an acceptor in ground state [1], and is mediated by dipole-dipole interactions. FRET is extremely sensitive to donor-acceptor distance and dipole orientations, and also depends on the electromagnetic environment [2]. Thus optical frequency experiments of FRET are intricate and energy transfer is deduced indirectly from changes in decay rates of participating emitters [3]. Here we present a novel theoretical and experimental framework unifying the formalisms of dipole-dipole interaction between quantum optics and microwave antenna engineering [4], allowing us to perform FRET measurements at microwave frequencies, using donor and acceptor antennas.