Significance Since the invention of the laser over 50 y ago, stimulated emission has been stronger and far more important than spontaneous emission, the ordinary light we are accustomed to. Indeed spontaneous emission has been looked down upon as a weak effect. Now a new science of enhanced spontaneous emission is emerging that makes spontaneous emission faster than stimulated emission. This new science depends upon the use of optical antennas to increase the spontaneous emission rate. Antennas emerged at the dawn of radio for concentrating electromagnetic energy to a small volume. Despite the importance of radio antennas, 100 y went by before optical antennas began to be used to help extract optical frequency radiation from very small sources such as dye molecules and quantum dots.
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