Anomalous Spontaneous Emission Enhancement by Bound States in the Continuum in Nonlocal Metasurfaces

Conventional Purcell theory emphasizes high quality factors (Q) for spontaneous emission (SE) enhancement in cavities but overlooks collective Bloch mode effects in nonlocal periodic nanostructures like photonic crystal slabs. We introduce a unified temporal coupled-mode framework to evaluate Purcell and photoluminescence factors through momentum-space integration, revealing anomalous SE enhancement mediated by bound states in the continuum (BICs) in non-Hermitian systems. In nonlocal dielectric metasurfaces with comparable effective mode volumes, this yields substantial SE enhancement in low-Q regimes, defying the traditional high-Q paradigm and is inversely correlated with system Q, while emission rates are stably twice the photoluminescence, eliminating critical coupling requirements. Unique spectral profiles, contradicting Lorentzian/Fano-like assumptions, arise from collective mode interactions. Full-wave simulations confirm these challenges to conventional wisdom, with BICs outperforming high-Q designs across broad numerical apertures. This establishes a novel paradigm leveraging non-Hermiticity and topological protection for robust, bright emitters, redefining nanophotonic applications in lasers and light-emitting diodes.