Maximal Interaction of Electromagnetic Radiation with Corona-Virions

Absorption and scattering of the impinging electromagnetic waves are the two fundamental operations describing the energy exchange of any, organic or inorganic, particle with its environment. In the case of virion cells, substantial extinction power, counting both absorbing and scattering effects, is a prerequisite for performing a variety of coupling actions against the viral particles and, thus, a highly sought-after feature. By considering realistic dispersion for the dielectric permittivity of proteins and a core-shell modeling allowing for rigorous formulation via Mie theory, we report optical extinction resonances for corona-virions at mid-infrared range that are not significantly perturbed by changes in the objects size or the background host. Our findings indicate the optimal regime for interaction of photonic radiation with viral particles and may assist towards the development of equipment for thermal damage, disintegration or neutralization of coronavirus cells.