Abstract
Electrodynamics describes light as electromagnetic radiation in the frequency range of approximately 1015 Hz; in this theory, matter is treated as continuous, with the primary material response being the electric polarization. As in any other frequency range, the electromagnetic field and its interaction with matter is described by Maxwell’s equations.
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Notes
- 1.
In the following, we will refer to \(\varepsilon\) simply as “permittivity.”
- 2.
In spectroscopy, the term “wave number” usually refers to k∕2π.
- 3.
- 4.
In photonics, the term intensity is generally used instead of irradiance.
- 5.
This statement is generally valid only in isotropic media; in anisotropic media, the electric field can have a longitudinal component and this and the following statements refer to the transverse component of \(\mathbf{E}\).
References and Suggested Reading
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Lipson, S. G., & Lipson. H. (1969). Optical physics. London: Cambridge University Press.
Saleh, B. E., & Teich, M. C. (2007). Fundamentals of photonics. New York: Wiley.
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Reider, G.A. (2016). Electrodynamic Theory of Light. In: Photonics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26076-1_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26076-1_1
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