Electromagnetic resonances and Q factors of a chiral sphere

A study of electromagnetic resonances of an isotropic chiral sphere is presented. The characteristic equation of a chiral sphere, which is complex and transcendental, is obtained by forming solutions of the electromagnetic field for a chiral sphere in terms of the spherical vector wave functions. The characteristic equation is solved by using a computer. Resonant frequencies and Q factors of the first few modes for relative permittivities of two and ten are reported and discussed. These modes are hybrid modes. They are classed as either hybrid electric (HE) modes or hybrid magnetic (HM) modes. Chirality is observed to have a significant effect on the resonances of a sphere.