Poynting’s theorem for plane waves at an interface: A scattering matrix approach

2007/07/25 by V. Domínguez-Rocha, V. Dominguez-Rocha, C. Zagoya +2 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Quantum chaos and dynamical systems #Quantum optics and atomic interactions #physics.class-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1119/1.2870269

published as Am. J. Phys. 76 (7), 621-625 (2008) · 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Am. J. Phys

arxiv created 2007/07/25 · openalex publication_date 2008/06/10 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We write Poynting’s theorem in a form that allows us to introduce a natural definition of the scattering matrix S. For a dielectric-dielectric interface this balance equation leads to energy flux conservation and the unitarity property of S. For the dielectric-conductor interface the scattering matrix is no longer unitary due to the presence of losses in the conductor, and we denote it by S̃. The dissipative term in Poynting’s theorem can be interpreted as due to a single parasitic channel or excitation of the absorptive interface. We define an S matrix that includes the parasitic channel, so that S is unitary.

Citations

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