Physics – Condensed Matter – Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Scientific paper
2002-06-07
Am. J. Phys. 71, 562 (2003)
Physics
Condensed Matter
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Brief Review, to appear in the American Journal of Physics, http://www.kzoo.edu/ajp/
Scientific paper
10.1119/1.1557301
We compare the behavior of propagating and evanescent light waves in absorbing media with that of electrons in the presence of inelastic scattering. The imaginary part of the dielectric constant results primarily in an exponential decay of a propagating wave, but a phase shift for an evanescent wave. We then describe how the scattering of quantum particles out of a particular coherent channel can be modeled by introducing an imaginary part to the potential in analogy with the optical case. The imaginary part of the potential causes additional scattering which can dominate and actually prevent absorption of the wave for large enough values of the imaginary part. We also discuss the problem of maximizing the absorption of a wave and point out that the existence of a bound state greatly aids absorption. We illustrate this point by considering the absorption of light at the surface of a metal.
Armour Andrew D.
Ramakrishna Anantha S.
No associations
LandOfFree
Propagating and evanescent waves in absorbing media does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Propagating and evanescent waves in absorbing media, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Propagating and evanescent waves in absorbing media will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-522337