Quantum description of the electromagnetic waves in homogeneous conducting linear media

Abstract

We have described an electromagnetic field confined in a cubic cavity filled with a conductive medium from the viewpoint of quantum mechanics; we have also described the field propagating under periodic boundary conditions, and the field having continuous modes, from the viewpoint of quantum mechanics. The amplitudes of both the electric and magnetic fields decrease exponentially with time due to the conductivity of the medium. This result exactly coincides with a classical electrodynamic analysis.