Electronic energy transfer in a microcavity

We study the microcavity effect on energy transfer via the electromagnetic field. The modification of the optical propel ties of the microcavity due t o the presence of absorbing accepters is taken into account. We analyze dif ferent cases that may be realized depending on the characteristics of the a cceptor absorption band: the case of strong and broad absorption, when the cavity mode is practically destroyed; the regime of weak absorption, when t he cavity mode is still well defined and just acquires some additional broa dening; and the strong-coupling regime, when the acceptor absorption has th e shape of a strong and narrow peak and two polariton branches appear, form ed due to coherent mixing of the acceptor excitations and the cavity mode. In our calculations we use a realistic model for the cavity mirrors (dielec tric or metallic), which is important since the mirrors introduce an additi onal decay channel for the donor excitation besides the transfer to the acc epters. The distribution of the energy between different decay channels is analyzed in detail.